Chapter 13
League Interrogation room
"During your run in with the Injustice League, I was made to know you encountered another Vampire. One that seems to know you? Who is she?" Batman asked while studying Draken keenly
"That was Lenore, one of the ruling Monarch's of Styria." Draken said calmly
"Styria? Sounds familiar."
"It's a fortress found in the region of Austria."
"Who are it's leaders."
"That would be Striga, Morana Carmilla and Lenore." Draken said. "Though Carmilla serves as it's queen…at least 500 years ago. I don't know how things are right now."
"Hmm…I'll look into them." Batman said. "Is there anything else I need to know?"
"I've told you all I know."
"I don't think so."
"Pardon?"
"What is your relationship with Lenore?" Batman asked causing the Vampire to stay silent for a bit
"An old friend."
"Just a friend?"
"Yes." Draken said in a tone that said 'this discussion is over'.
"Fine, keep your secrets." Batman said while getting up. "But if your friendship with her ever endanger your team and the league, I will put you down."
"Understood."
"You're free to leave."
Mount Justice
"Recognized B06, Dracula."
In a flash of light Draken appears in the cave. He looks ahead to see Canary overseeing a training exercise.
"You are late," Canary says as he approached her.
"Batman." Draken said.
Canary raises an eyebrow. "Do you want to talk about it?" Draken glances at Canary. He turns away preferring to watch the ongoing spars. A sigh escapes the woman. She shakes her head at the behavior.
Meanwhile M'gaan, Artemis, Robin, Conner, Wally, and Kaldur all went toe to toe with one-another around them. M'gaan and Kaldur were taking on Conner and Wally whilst Artemis and the boy-wonder swapped hands alone on the opposite end of the ring.
M'gaan blocked one of Wally's punches and redirected the force to the side and used her opposing hand to grab his wrist and flip him overhead onto his back. This lasted a mere two seconds as he back-sprung onto his feet and threw a jump round-kick which nearly caught her in the face if Kaldur hadn't interjected with his right-forearm, however; this was short lived when Conner grappled Kaldur by the waist and leaned back to the ground pile-driving the Atlantean onto his back.
Wally slipped down and swept Kaldur's feet out from under him, before M'gaan tried round-housing him to the ground being foiled by Wally ducking beneath the attack and grabbing her foot by the ankle and twisting it in such a way that wouldn't break it but, sent her spinning into the air and landing on her stomach. Kaldur had already stood and use this as an opportunity to drop-kick Wally onto his back before leaping into the air for a face-stomp which was expertly avoided by the speedster rolling over and flipping to his feet. Conner came in sending three jabs to the face being deflected with his dense forearms which he used to grab one of the Kryptonian's fists and pull him to the ground before watching him roll back to his feet.
Black Canary clapped and stepped into the holo-ring as they all paused their movements and faced her out of respect for their trainer, Captian Marvel and Draken approached the team with Black Canary following close behind, "Well, it's been a pleasure helping train you, all of you; we've enjoyed being your 'den-mother' this week."
"How come Draken doesn't have to train!?" Wally shouted wiping sweat from his brow and pointing over at the floating Half Vampire
Canary put her hands on her hips, "Draken is still recovering from his fight with Black Adam."
"Seriously?" Wally asked as he looked at his teammate. "Now I feel bad for asking."
"It's fine." Draken said waving away his concern. "I'm already back at full strength. The livestock at home have been really helpful, though taking an entire week to recover was tiring to say the least."
"Funny question, but how long would it have taken you to recover on human blood?" Robin asked
"Less than a day."
"I'll never get used to you drinking blood." Wally said
"It's a good thing no one asked you then," Artemis chuckled as the teleporters fired up behind them.
"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 sixteen 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, Kaldur, Conner and Draken."
Zatanna gives a small smile. "Hey, nice to meet you all." Her eyes drift past Robin to look at the rest of the team. She glances at Draken who is now reading a book .
Robin 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 trailed 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."
Kaldur agreed and stepped forward into the nigh-huddle they'd formed, "Almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's 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 trator, that machine nearly got M…all of us killed!"
"Uh..." Draken sighed before pointing at Zatanna who was staring at them with a confused glare; obviously noticing their gestures as if talking aloud.
"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."
"Yet, you've found none of the above." Draken said dryly
"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!"
Draken, Conner, Wally, Artemis, 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 Draken.
"We aren't actually taking a tour, are we?" she asked with a dull exasperation in her tone.
"Nope." Draken replied stopping and turning to his team for approval, receiving nods from his friends in response.
"No, we are hunting down that robot," states Conner looking at Draken.
"Oh, wow, out loud and everything," She sarcastically chided.
Artemis looks over at Zatanna. "What about new girl?"
"She won't tell," defends Robin. "Right?"
"I can't," smirks Zatanna. "Not if you kidnap me."
"Oh she is going to fit in great," smirks Artemis.
"I need to head home." Draken said before closing his book
"Dude, you can't just ditch us." Wally said
"I'm not ditching you. Honestly, knowing your troublesome luck I can't afford to ditch you lots." Draken said. "I have a way of finding Tornado but it's in my Castle."
"So sleep over huh?" Zatanna asked with a smirk, causing the vampire to look at her blankly
"It's a modern day tradition." M'gaan said to Draken
Draken shrugged, not caring either ways, "Whatever. M'gaan, think you can prep the bioship for us?"
She hopped giddily and gave a joyful clap, "Duh! It's been weeks since she's been out of the hangar!"
…
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; "So how are we going to find Tornado? Batman is the worlds greatest detective, and he's searched for Tornado in every logical location," Robin turned to the rest of the team, "If we're going to find him we're going to need an illogical solution... a truly dumb idea."
"Sorcery." Draken said from the ships front
"Seriously? Your plan is magic?" Wally asked incredulously
"Yes."
"Hahaha, let me guess, you have a magic mirror that can find him?" Wally asked, but the vampire stayed silent. "I was joking about the mirror you know." More silence. "You really have a magic mirror?"
"Among other things." Draken shrugged
"Dude!"
Zatanna turns around in her chair to look at him. "So, I heard you beat Black Adam? Must have been fun?"
"Fighting that monstrosity was anything but fun." Draken said
"Lighten up dude, she was only complementing you." Artemis said
"It's fine, I like the silent broody types." smiles Zatanna.
A certain Boy Wonder starts to gain a jealous look on his face.
...
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?"
Romania
"We are here," M'gann says.
The Bio-ship stays in camouflage mode as it lands in a somewhat deserted wasteland.
"There's nothing here," Conner said stepping out of the ship
"Just great." Wally groaned. "I'm gonna guess it's hidden like the tower of Fate right?"
"Stand back." Draken said before stepping forward. "Invocatio. Mahorela. Sor. Gru. Odo. Teloch."
Suddenly, a massive sinister castle materialized in front of the team.
"Woah!" Wally gasped as he studied the structure. "I can't believe you live here all by yourself."
"Doesn't it get lonely?" Artemis asked
"It does." Draken admitted
"Well, it's a good thing we're here to liven it up for you." Zatanna said with a smile.
For a brief moment, Draken couldn't help but stare at the Homo magi, before turning to his other teammates who all smiled as though agreeing with the girl
"Are you going to invite us in or am I going to have to break into your house?" Zatanna asked
"You have quite the attitude huh?" Draken chuckled before performing a low bow as he gestured towards the castle entrance. "Welcome to my home."
As Zatanna walked past the Vampire, she couldn't helping but blush, although faintly at the vampire's formality.
A few moments later, Draken led his teammates through the vast structure of the castle. As the group silently followed their leader, they couldn't help but notice various paintings of Draken and his family.
"Is that you?" Wally asked while pointing to a painting of Lisa and Dracula holding a ravened hair baby, with Alucard standing beside them
"Problem?"
"Where did all that cuteness go to?" Wally asked
"Puberty apparently." Draken answered
"Off topic but, that language you used back then. It was an Enochian word?" Zatanna asked
"Yes." Draken answered. "You know that language?"
"I do actually." Zatanna said proudly. "So, Teloch huh. You know it means death right?"
"I'm well aware of that."
"So basically we're walking in the 'Magical Castle of Death'."
"Then I advise you be careful as to not active any of the castles death traps."
On hearing this, everybody instantly stopped moving as a look of horror crossed their faces
"You're…joking right?" Wally asked
"I wish I were." Draken said as he continued to walk deeper into the castle. In a rather comical manner, the other heroes began chasing after the vampire
After about a minute of walking, Draken and his teammates reached his father's private sanctum.Normally he would not go in here as it contained the worst secrets; his father had knowledge that should never be known. However he needed the most powerful magical artefact in Castlevaina: The Mirror of Fate.
The mirror was broken into at least a thousand shards and floated in the centre of the room, awaiting its masters command.
"Is that a distance mirror?" Zatanna gasped as she approached the floating shards of glass
"Indeed." Draken said as he waved his hand, causing the shards to dance around in the room
"It's broken." Conner pointed out
"Not for long." Draken clapped his hand together, causing the mirror shards to swirl around before reforming into a mirror. "Show me Red Tornado."
The mirror suddenly showed the Image of Red Tornado standing besides three other android and a man
"Is that-"
"Tio Morrow." Wally said, completing Robins statement
"Where is this?" Draken asked the mirror, causing it to show the signboard of a park
"I know this place." Robin said
"Then we better start moving." Draken said
"Yellow Stone National Park
"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 ground only a dozen or so miles from the massive national park, 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 mission," Draken said as he glanced over Robin.
"Look," Robin announced as M'gaan followed Draken's instructions, "I'm trying to be as nonchalant as possible but…"
Zatanna interjected with her response, "Why? Be as chalant as you want," receiving a short blush from the boy-wonder which cut off his train of thought.
"Please, don't encourage him." Draken groaned
"Well you're feeling overly aster." Zatanna said
Artemis intervened motioning towards Zatanna, "I think we're all just trying to get a handle on the majority of magic as a whole…" She received a raised brow from the vampire and Homo magi, "Like, can you teleport us to Morrow? Or the Red's to a jail cell? Or disable their powers?"
Zatanna continued her questioning herself, "Or create world peace on Earth for all time?" She sighed and looked back to the window, "Even Zatara couldn't do all that and I am no where near my dad's level of sorcery."
"Most spell power comes from within, like soul etc." Draken said. "Though for vampires, our blood reserve also determine our magic strength."
They blinked for a moment before he turned to Robin, "What's our ETA to Yellow Stone?"
"I'm way passed ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor," Conner 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 Conner, "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.
Conner closed his eyes and understood, keeping quiet and turning back around to face the team in silence.
"Stealth mode," Draken announced, causing Wally and Artemis to tap their chests which 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 Draken approached the grass, "I'd recommend staying put-" but before he could continue Zatanna gave a coy smile in response.
"Is that an order?"
"I suppose you'll have to do whatever you see fit..."
"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 seven, save Draken, 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, Kaldur, 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, "There is definitely something down there."
Kaldur 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?"
Who cares why!" called Conner, "Nail him!" He grabbed Kaldur and flung him at the android. Red intercepted Kaldur and threw him at Conner, tossing them both into the wall of tornados. They were unceremoniously slammed to the ground and rolled over. Robin tossed his projectiles and Artemis shot an arrow at him. All the projectiles were thrown off course in the wind
Wally ran in circles, forming his own tornado, and M'gann used this as cover to try and get behind Red. Red simply grabbed her by the throat and slammed her body into Wally, sending them both back with the force of his speed. Robin tossed twin explosive shuriken and Tornado spun them in the air, sending them back at Robin and Artemis in two explosions. Zatanna tried to speak, but the oxygen was pulled from her lungs and she fell to the ground, clutching her throat if surprise.
For a few moments, they all lay on the ground in the middle of Tornado's trap. Suddenly, the ground beneath them shook and a lone figure erupted from the earth in their midst. "Quite a performance, brother," said the figure in a metallic monotone, "But we both know that's all it was." A few meters away, Tornado's message of 'Play Dead' was wiped away as the figure rose on a pillar of earth. "I have your memories, Tornado," said the figure, "As well as a next-gen processor. I know your next move before you do. I even know there's another meatbag hiding here just because he can't be viewed by the lair's security." he added before launching a boulder at the now recovering teen-heroes whom braced for impact from large boulders.
Kaldur and Conner 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 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!"
Suddenly, Volcano's shadow suddenly took the form of Draken, who proceeded to send the android face first into the ground with enough force to shake the lair
"Finally decided to stop hiding?" Volcano asked as he struggled to free himself from Draken's grip, but failed
"I wanted to make sure you're were actually an Android before doing this…" In a single motion, Draken instantly ripped off Volcano's limbs before tossing him forward
In a desperate attempt to defend himself, 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 Draken 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 Draken, "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, Draken took note of this and quickly ripped Volcano's head, before crushing it under 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!"
"Leave it to us." The team turned to see Tornado approaching them with his siblings in tow
Red Inferno toppled the boulder pinning Conner "We will travel inside and force the magma down with our abilities."
They all turned to face her with shocked expressions, "Thank you," Zatanna exclaimed, "But, won't you be destroyed?"
"Our existence began with the motive of aiding humanity, perhaps it is appropriate that it should end that way as well," Torpedo said before propelling himself and his sister over the Volcano where they looked down and analyzed the boiling lava below. Without a second thought, they dived into the flames where they 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!"
Draken turned to his teammates before speaking, "Maybe I could use magic to…" 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.
"Thank you." Draken said as he approached the android
"I always knew you weren't a traitor." Kaldur said as he helped the android to his feet
"So, what now?" Artemis said
"We crash at Draken's place." Zatanna said, enlisting a groan from the vampire