Long Past Dawn

Mount Justice; July 18 11:16 EDT

In the room next to us, the Mount Justice Computer picks up the Zeta Tube usage, routing the users from North Carolina to the Mountain which the map shows in Rhode Island.

"Recognized Robin; B-0-1, Kid Flash; B-0-3"

Both boys appear in their civilian clothes. Smiling brightly, then running out of the Zeta Tube to the room we're in which is connected to the main. Finding Miss Martian, Aqualad, Superboy and me standing in front of a holoscreen.

"Did you ask him?" Robin asks.

"What did he say?" Kid Flash follows up.

"He is arriving now," Aqualad tells the two of them as calmly as always.

Kid Flash friendly punches Robin the c.h.e.s.t. "Then what are we waiting for?" before running off, Robin following close behind, and finally Aqualad. Leaving the three of us alone, Miss Martian smiles at us as she puts her hands on her h.i.p.s. Superboy turns, crossing his arms over his t-shirt before walking off. Miss Martian smiles and I shrug as we go and follow the guys. We arrive at one of the many entrances, this one being a ramp that falls down into the cave from the ground above us. We all get there just as Red Tornado touches down.

"Red Tornado!" Kid Flash calls out with a wave as he lands.

"Greeting." he offers. "Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?" his monotone voice makes it rather hard to discern the question portion of his sentence.

"We hoped you had a mission for us," Aqualad says.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility." Red Tornado states simply.

"But it's been over a week and nothing-" Robin tries, but is cut off.

"You'll be tested soon enough." He states firmly. "For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."

"This team is not a social club." Aqualad objects strongly.

"No," Red Tornado agrees. "but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourselves with the cave." Tornado says, walking past us and into the cave.

We can only watch as he does.

Kid Flash turns to Robin, punching him in the shoulder again. "'Keep busy'," he nearly growls.

"Does he really think we're falling for this?" Robin questions angrily, catching Superboy's attention in his anger.

"Oh, I'll find out." Miss Martian says excitedly, then turns towards Red Tornado and her expression relaxes slightly.

"You can't mind read off a machine!" I call after her but she doesn't hear... Great.

Miss Martian sighs as she walks back. "I'm sorry, I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I… cannot read his mind."

"Told you," I say with a sigh.

"Nice try, though." Kid Flash offers. "So, uh, you know what I'm thinkin' right now?" he looks up at with a flirtatious smile.

"Something stupid?" I offer and I get a chuckle from Robin.

"Ow," he complains, but only seeming half-hearted about it.

"And now we tour the clubhouse," Aqualad says sourly.

"Well, Superboy, Scarlet and I live here. We can play tour guides." Miss Martian offers, looking to Superboy and me. I definitely do not have it cut out to be a tour guide.

Robin and Kid Flash instantly turn to Superboy. "Don't look at me," he tells them seriously.

"We won't. A private tour sound so much better." Kid Flash says, looking to Miss Martian and me.

"Social means all of us," I smile sweetly but don't hide the sour edge in my tone.

"Yeah! What Scarlet said." Robin quickly agrees.

"Team building. We'll all go." Aqualad also agrees, breaking up the argument before it can even start.

We all turn to go back down the ramp, but Robin grabs Kid Flash's arm and yanks him back.

"So, this would be our front door…" Miss Martian begins as I just stand quietly by Superboy.

We then head in, with Miss Martian doing all of the work as I hang in the back thinking over what Stephen told me about Jikan. It still bothers me how little I really know about her... Just who was she?

"You ok?" Superboy asks as we stop in front of the kitchen and Miss Martian ignores a bad pickup line from Kid Flash.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" I say a little too loudly and they all turn to look at us.

I turn away as Miss Martian takes the attention again, "Anyway... Let's continue..."

We keep walking as Miss Martian points out rooms and hallways and such. Eventually, we come out the other end of the mountain. "And this would be the back." Miss Martian finishes. "The cave is actually the entire mountain."

"It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League," Kid Flash explains what he knows about the history of the mountain.

"Then why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy questions.

"The cave's secret location was… compromised." Aqualad explains.

"So they traded it in for a tourist trap?" Superboy questions, confused. "Yeah. That makes sense."

"If the Bad Guys know of the cave, then we must be on constant alert." Miss Martian raises her hand in accentuation, thinking she's figured it out.

"Do you think the Lauge would put us in that type of constant danger?" I don't mean to sound like a prick, but it comes out like that. Miss Martian blushes a bit at her mistake, and I just look away, "Sorry... I'm a bit out of it..." I mumble.

"The Bad Guys know we know they know about the place," Robin assures, and then turns to me. "so they'd never think to look here."

"Uh," Kid Flash interrupts. "he means we're hiding in plain sight."

"Yeah... I kinda got that," Miss Martian scratches the back of her neck awkwardly.

Superboy sniffs twice. "I smell smoke."

Miss Martian gasps. "My cookies." then flies down the hallway. Making it to the kitchen and removing said cookies just as we get there. She sets them down and we all look at the burnt-black cookies on the tray.

"I was trying Grammy Jones' recipe from episode 17 of-" she cuts herself off with an awkward chuckle. "Nevermind."

"I bet they'd tasted great," Robin assures then looks over to Kid Flash who's stuffing a bunch in his mouth. "He doesn't seem to mind."

With his mouth still half full and a burnt cookie in each hand, I can only watch in stunned silence. "I have a serious metabolism." he offers weakly.

"That's more than a serious metabolism, that's eating like a pig," I comment as I raise an eyebrow and look between the burnt cookies and him.

"I'll… make more?" Miss Martian seems unsure how to take that comment.

"It was sweet of you to make any," Aqualad tells her.

"Thanks, Aqualad." Miss Martian says, ducking her head slightly.

"We're off duty. Call me Kaldur'ahm." he insists. "Actually, my friends call me Kaldur." he clarifies with very little hesitance.

"I'm Wally." Kid Flash speaks up, leaning on the island. "See? I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here." Robin frowns and glares at Wally as he puts his hands on his h.i.p.s, annoyed by Kid Flash's slightly accusatory tone. "Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."

"Mine's no secret." Miss Martian admits brightly. "It's M'gann M'orzz. But you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, I'm on Earth now." she seems really excited about that fact.

Superboy grunts in shock and his posture tenses from his spot by the wall, he looks at the M'gann redhead in shock and possibly a tiny bit of fear.

Superboy's grips his head for a moment. "Get out of my head!" he shouts, gaining Kaldur, Wally, Robin's and my attention in an instant. We all know what he does when he's angry, they look back to M'gann a curious expression on their features.

"What's wrong? I don't understand," she says telepathically to the rest of us as I step over to Superboy.

All three react negatively to it. Robin physically grips his head with both hands, Kaldur turns away from M'gann closing his eyes and grimacing before finally putting his own hand to his head, while Wally brings his own hand to his forehead threading his fingers through his bright red hair, and Superboy's fists clench at his sides as he looks almost ready to pounce. I grab his wrist to stop him from doing anything stupid, out of all of them I react the calmest to it.

"Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically."

"M'gann stop." Kaldur commands anger clear in his voice. M'gann closes the link and looks confused and hurt, but listens to Kaldur continue. "Things are different on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

Attempting to lighten the mood Wally adds in his two cents. "Besides, Cadmus' creepy little psychic G-gnomes left a bad taste in his brain." saying the last part behind his hand as if that will stop Superboy from hearing him and as if it is some big secret.

I shoot Wally a glare. "I-I didn't mean to-" M'gann tries.

"Just stay out," Superboy growls cutting her off, his eyes burning bright with rage as he jerks his wrist from my grasp and walks into the adjoining room.

I sigh and look helplessly after him.

"Hello, Megan!" she says it brightly despite the fact that she hits her forehead with the heel of her hand. "I know what we can do."

I bite the inside of my cheek, "You guys do that, I'll go check on him."

I walk over to where Superboy went off to as M'gann goes off with the other boys. I enter into the same room as him and walk over, "She didn't mean to, she didn't know."

"Yeah whatever, she should have known better," Superboy pouts and I sigh.

"She's lived her whole life on a different planet with different customs, you can't expect her to be perfect and know everything about Earth just from a few days here," I gently argue with him. We're a team and we have to get along.

"Doesn't matter, she's not on Mars anymore, she should know we have different rules," He huffs and I snap.

"God you are such an ass!" I yell, "You can't even see that she likes you!"

Superboy pauses and looks at me stunned and I pant slightly from my outburst. It's like trying to feed a blind chicken. The silence is broken by Wally's voice from deeper in the cave, "Hey Scarlet, Supey! Come look at this."

We exchange a look and I grin as I realize we're both trying to figure out what he did now. We walk over to the hanger where Wally, M'gann, Robin, and Kaldur are.

They stand in front of a space ship looking thing with a staircase leading up into it. "Are you coming?" M'gann asks a little nervously. I look at Superboy before looking back and nodding.

We walk up the staircase and once we're inside the front opens up to reveal a captain's chair and five more side chairs.

"Strap in for launch," M'gann tells us as she goes to the captain's chair. Wally and Robin exchange grins before sitting down and I don't have to be told twice.

As I go to lean forward the chair moves. "Whoa" I say as I sit down. The chair reaches out and creates c.h.e.s.t restraints that hold us all in place. Wally sits down next and now knowing what happens, doesn't panic.

"Cool," he tells M'gann.

"Red Tornado," M'gann says, sitting in the captain's chair. "please open the bay doors."

As the bay doors open two control towers form by M'gann's hands. Once the doors are open the Bioship flies out at impressive speeds, only to slow just above the surface of the water and begin a near 90° upward flight, before barrel rolling to face towards the mainland once more.

"Incredible!" Robin tells M'gann, more likely impressed with the responsiveness and her piloting skills than anything.

"She sure is…" Wally agrees, but is entirely focused on M'gann, once she turns towards does he realize what he said. "I-I mean the ship, which like all sh.i.p.s, is a she."

"Nice save," I scoff as I look out the window, somehow it reminds me of riding Iferis but the sensation of the wind sliding through my hair is gone.

'We could go flying,' Iferis says in my mind and I feel her rile up and ready to burst in my shadow.

'Not now, they don't know about you and might get scared,' I respond and she quiets down, though I do want to go flying again with her. 'But definitely later,'

'I'll hold you to that,' she says before she quiets down. I'm still not sure what she does in my shadow, for all I know she could use it as a gate back to the underworld and go flying down there under the light of the glow worms. I sigh slightly, though I was at first scared of that place now I want to go flying back under that beautiful blue light.

I come back from my thoughts and listen to what's going on around me, Wally and Robin are arguing about something behind me and on the other side of the ship, I can just hear Kaldur and Superboy talking.

"I may not have psychic powers, but I can guess what you're thinking." Superboy looks at Kaldur out of the corner of his eye. "You overreacted and you don't know how to apologize. Just say sorry." Kaldur treats it as if this happens regularly around him. Superboy doesn't say anything, merely looking out at the view once more.

"He'll come around." Robin offers to M'gann, clearly knowing what the conversation between Kaldur and Superboy was about.

"He doesn't seem to like me very much," M'gann says sadly.

"You guys remember he has super hearing, " I interrupt, and proving my point by not bothering to whisper. "Right?" sure enough Superboy heard every word.

"Hey, how 'bout showing us a little bit of Martian Shapeshifting?" Robin asks, changing the topic. M'gann nods subtly, thanking him for the change, before stepping up and gaining Kaldur and Superboy's attention as her clothes begin to change. Making her look like a girlish version of Robin, costume included. Catching Wally's smirk she turns into a girlish version of Kid Flash.

"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally questions.

"Yes," I respond to him, I really need to punch him sometimes, "Very."

Robin applauds M'gann. "Impressive, but you know you're not exactly gonna fool anyone with those."

M'gann smiles softly as she sits down. "Mimicking boys is a lot harder."

"Then try me," I finally speak up and she looks at me, after a moment she shifts and looks like me, man I didn't think I had a clone.

I smile and get up, "Not bad". I crack my back and stretch my wings out, "Then how about now?"

M'gann bites her lip, or mine since she's mimicking me but let's not go there. After a moment wings spread out from her back and they look like mine but not perfectly. I clap, "Not bad, not sure what feels off, maybe the face?" I joke as I sit back down.

"And your clothes?" Kaldur questions after I sit down.

"They're organic like the ship. They respond to my mental commands." M'gann explains, pulling on her jacket slightly.

"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy says darkly not caring that he's heard by all of them.

I look over at him, is he seriously going to do this right now? Dude be like Elsa and let it go.

"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing Manhunter does?" Wally asks.

"Density shifting?" M'gann questions, though her smile doesn't return. "No, it's a very advanced technique…"

Robin leans forward. "Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall." Then chuckles before gesturing to Wally. "When he tries it, bloody nose."

"DUDE!" Wally snaps, annoyed that he would tell her that.

"What don't you want your little girl crush to know?" I whisper to him and he glares daggers at me.

"Here's something I can do," M'gann says brightly, then the entire ship disappears from sight, the only way that we can tell is by how the wings disappear from sight. "Camouflage Mode."

"Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate covertly. I'm sending coordinates." all of us are on high alert as the ship bings.

"Received. Adjusting course." M'gann says.

Robin scoffs. "Tornado's keeping us busy again."

M'gann replies optimistically. "Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert." as she takes the Bioship down and mere feet above the surface of the parking lot.

I wrinkle my nose and mutter, "that wasn't a simple fire."

Superboy turns out the side window. "I think I know the cause," he says, right outside the Bioship is a tornado. Heading right for us. M'gann attempts to alter our course so not to be swept up but isn't successful and the Bioship glitches out of Camouflage Mode as we get fully entangled in the tornado. Fun day.

Trapped inside the tornado all of us hold on and grunt as the wind wh.i.p.s us around and around. When I said I wanted to feel the wind in my hair I really didn't mean like this.

M'gann manages to open her eyes and reorientate herself, as she does her brow drops in concentration and her hands firmly press on the control towers, illuminating them as she gets us out of the tornado and to the parking lot. Where we all drop out of a door created in the bottom of the ship. "Good piloting," I say as I land on the tarmac.

At the Power Plant, all the works are evacuating and screaming in fear.

"Robin, are tornadoes common in New England?" Kaldur questions, hearing no response he turns to where Robin just was but finds the space between him and M'gann now empty. "Robin?"

Robin's laugh echoes, but none of us can locate him.

"H-he was just here." M'gann objects.

"I hate when he does that," I sigh as our attention turns back to the Power Plant where the windows are being blown out. Well, this should be fun I think to myself as we all run into the now windowless building.

Inside the Power Plant is a figure in a red and black exo-suit, with blue tubing running from its shoulders, up and to its lower back, and a brown scarf covering its mouth. Tornado-like funnels coming from each hand.

The funnels hit Robin directly and slam him into the support pillar nearly eight feet off the ground, then him fall to the ground. Hitting his back both times.

Superboy jumps the stairs to land beside Robin as he sits up. "Who's your new friend?"

Robin looks to Superboy, grimacing at the motion. "Didn't catch his name-" Superboy then jumps at the villain. "-but he plays kinda rough." he finishes, warning him.

The exo-suit wearing villain stands ready, air pulses still coming from its wrists, though the bright blue tubing is now confirmed to be going to the tops of its wrists as well. "My apologies," it says, revealing its robotic masculine tone. "You may address me as Mr. Twister."

Mr. Twister then throws both his hands up, creating two more tornadoes, which Superboy withstands, but before he can gain any more ground Twister redirects the tornado, grabbing Superboy before launching him into the wall, a good fifteen feet off the ground. As he hits the wall dents and he falls to the metal floor, unmoving.

Why does he have powers like Red Tornado along with the same robotic type voice? I'll have to keep these questions for later as I dodge a twister heading right towards me and ask in my mind, 'how good are you at withstanding strong wind, Iferis?'

'A little wind like that? Easier than ambrosia,' She snorts and I keep that as a mental note in case I need help.

Now on the main floor, M'gann turns Robin and Wally. From his pocket, Wally pulls out his goggles sliding them over his eyes. As Robin gets back to his feet in front of him, Kaldur looks to M'gann and me then nods. Understanding we nod back. All of us taking off as a group.

As I lunge into the air I let my wings spread out and feel the air currents whip through them. I'm not sure how this guy's powers work but I'm hoping I might be able to feel a change in the air before the next attack.

Wally speeds through a front handspring before aiming with both his feet at Mr. Twister's c.h.e.s.t. He doesn't quite make it as Mr. Twister raises his hands to create vortexes that stop him in his tracks. Then he turns it around and launches Wally out the bay doors, where he skids across the parking lot.

I'm disappointed to find that I felt nothing before he created the twister, seems like that idea was a dud. I try to get a closer look at the tubes, what would happen if they got slashed? Would the powers stop?

Unamused, Twister turns back in time to create twisters under a flying M'gann and a charging Aqualad, knocking both of them back and eliciting a yell. Aqualad hits a corner of one of the support beams, while M'gann narrowly misses and crashes into the raised grated walkway another ten feet behind the Boy Wonder

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero." Twister goads, as Robin pulls a disk out from under his jacket. "I was not, however, expecting children."

I'll have you know I'm 16, I could legally try for a driver's license, no that I really have the need. "We're not children!" Robin yells launching a small bomb then the disk.

But that works too to prove the point. Twister counteracts the bomb with dual vortices, causing it to explode at a harmless distance, thinking Robin faked one of his moves he lets the vortices drop, giving the disk the opportunity to land in the center of his c.h.e.s.t plate. Which the villain flicks away with one finger. "Objectively, you are." only then does it explode. "Have you no a.d.u.l.t supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing." Same to you.

"Well, we hate to see you disturbed." Robin bites back, bringing Twister's attention back to the standing five members of the Team. "Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can!"

With that M'gann reaches out with her telekinesis. Destroying the fixture over his head, creating a steam barrier that Superboy jumps through. Even with the barrier Twister still reacts fast enough to catch Superboy before he can land a hit. Throwing him back and causing him to hit where the ceiling changes height, then bounce off to fall into a flying M'gann. Both Robin and Aqualad dodge without missing a beat. The Atlantean's hands charging with electricity. Twister says nothing as his hands begin creating vortices, that then become miniature twisters than pick up Aqualad and Robin before slamming them into each other.

Well, this is going well. Time to see what happens if those tubes get severed, I feel the metal of the bracelet flow over my skin and mold into a sword in my hands. The metal gleams dangerously and the edge is definitely sharp enough.

I lunge at Twister's back with the sword held above my head and ready for the blow. But at the last second, he turns and grips the blade tightly as if to break it. "It won't break that easily," I smirk at him.

"But you will," He replies as he raises his one free hand and my eyes widen, I barely have time to brace for the blow straight to my jaw that sends me flying right across the room. My wings hardly help the less that comfortable landing in the wall as my sword clatters to the ground a few feet away.

Helplessly I slide to the ground with a groan of pain. What is it with these guys and sending me flying into walls?