CHAPTER II
pros and cons

If she's said it once, she's said it a thousand times: humans are so weird!

Joyce thought she was getting a hang of this Earth girl thing, that she had done enough research, that her TV shows, movies, and fashion magazines would have been enough! She was sorely mistaken.

Dr. Shah, their downstairs neighbor, who occasionally invited them over to play board games and paid Joyce $10 everyday she came by to help water her plants, was the one who told her about the Coast City University STEM summer camp. Open to all high schoolers, even incoming ones, was an opportunity for the next generation of scientists to see the research being done at the university, and even take part in some of it - or at least that's what the brochure said.

And don't get her wrong, camp was really cool, they got to do some experiments, play with robots, see some cool physics demonstrations, and so on. The thing was both Mama and Dr. Shah had assured her it would be a good opportunity to make actual friends as it's likely some of them were also going to the fancy science school she's set to start at in August. However, her efforts to make friends were total failures and she was destined to be a social outcast, because human teenagers are strange and sticky and smell weird. And even worse, she hadn't accounted for any of that when she had made the pros and cons list, so technically it was all her fault!

(There are few things Joyce is certain of, pros and cons lists help with that! For example,  becoming a superhero:

Cons: Could get hurt. Could be scary. Mama isn't a big fan of the idea.

Pros: It's only temporary. Help people. Get to leave Earth occasionally. Maybe even save entire her planet and people. Freaking Guardians of the Universe encouraged it. Cool costume.

The actual list is much longer and more detailed than that, but overall, the pros outweighed the cons. The correct decision, whether she agreed with it or not, was obvious).

Dr. Shah had also become the fifth person to try and convince her to join the team (Or the special "volunteer" organization - they weren't that close). She had told Joyce that the join the team pros and cons list (a purposely vague version) was highly subjective, full of hypotheticals, thus could not be used to make informed decisions.

In professor Shah's opinion - very reputable, she was biochemist for over fifty years, dozens of major publications, nearly nominated for a Nobel prize - for Joyce to make an informed decision she would have to the collect data, do the research. If she's going to part of the next generation of scientists (maybe not on this planet) she can't be making conclusions without the proper evidence to back up her claims.

Which means go to the secret lair, meet the team, gather data. With her luck, it'll be awful.

༻✦༺

So far, Joyce's new and improved, less hypothetical and more objective joining the team pros and cons list consisted of a few pros: Firstly, she wasn't going in not knowing anyone, she knows Kid Flash, and had half-met Aqualad and Robin the last time the Justice League kept the world from ending. John, Hal, Mama, and even Dr. Shah thought it was a good idea, but that could also make it a con. Also a pro, and always at the top of her pro list, it's only temporary. All of this is temporary, she'll be home in no time.

The first true con on her list was that this team thing took place in Rhode Island, which was only a zeta-tube away, but was a three-hour time difference. This meant the 11:15 am call time was actually a 7:00 am wake-up time, considering she chose her outfit the night before.

Nevertheless, Hal and John had assured her that Batman did not have any missions for the team yet and that it would be pretty casual, and she was free to conduct her research, unburdened. Which only served to settle her nerves slightly. No matter how much she didn't want to join the team, she still planned to make a good first impression.

Cool Teen Magazine and various other fashion magazines have been her best instruction manuals for interacting with Earth teens, science camp might've been a bust but it could've been much worse without them. Through careful meta-analysis, the general consensus seemed to say that the best thing for making a good first impression was the right outfit.

Some things are universal, things that Joyce picked up almost automatically upon her arrival, like science and clothes. The best things about her time on Earth thus far were finding a sewing machine at the local thrift store and the craft store just down the street from their apartment.

It takes her longer than she cares to admit to choose an outfit, though the answer was staring her right in the face. Her favorite pair of jeans was an obvious choice: cute and comfy, not too nice, but not too casual. The yellow cardigan had only recently upstaged the jeans as the greatest thrift store finds of all time, if not only because of the bows on the sleeves, and the pink tank top she had sewed herself, fashioned almost perfectly after something she'd seen a celebrity wear in one of her magazines.

She triple-checks herself in the bathroom mirror, retying her hair up in a matching pink ribbon and fixing her bangs. She's totally not nervous; she feels completely normal. Why would she be nervous, this is a low-stakes, completely casual, probably temporary thing. She has breakfast with Mama and double-knots her shoelaces before heading out the door, just like any other day. Her heart was just beating a little faster, and she couldn't seem to keep her legs from bouncing while she sat.

The nearest Zeta teleporter was a fifteen-minute bike ride from their apartment in an old beach port-a-potty hidden in an alley between two condominiums: Con.

Recognized: Calix B-06

"Whoa," she wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting as she entered the cave, but the dark, high ceilings and the massive holo-computer sure wasn't it. A chill runs down her spine and the ever-constant buzzing on her skin grows to a slightly higher frequency. There's an anticipatory feeling in the emptiness, the vastness of this place. Pro or con: TBD.

She must be early, there's only one other person in the room; tall, tanned-skinned, and light hair. Aqualad, they've met once before - kind of - stands behind several screens as Joy crosses her arms over her chest and makes her way toward the center of the room.

"I am glad you decided to join us," Aqualad turns to her a with warm smile, she attempts to return it, but it feels a bit more forced than she intended.

"Yes," There's a lapse as she scours her brain for what to say next, in the briefest moment, silence fills every nook and cranny of the large room. Her mouth feels dry, "What exactly have I joined?"

"That is still to be found out," Aqualad's voice remains calm and level. She can't tell whether or not it's reassuring. There's another lapse, a longer pause as Joyce turns her attention to whatever is on the screens before them, some sort of tracking software.

Before all-out awkward silence can begin to take root, two more figures enter from deeper within the cave. Though she's only met Superman maybe once or twice, she clocks the clone almost immediately. Her curiosity piques, she has so many questions. Calixtan sciences were typically on par with what scientists on Earth could do, more advanced in some cases, but to her knowledge, they hadn't yet dipped their toes into genetic engineering. The hows and whys bounced around her mind.

"Hi!" The second figure suddenly appears beside her, Joyce's eyes widen at the green girl, her voice full of excitement. "I'm M'g - Miss Martian - still getting used to the code name thing. Oh, and this is Superboy!"

Joyce gives the clone - er, Superboy, a small wave, who barely regards her. Rude.

"Yeah, code names are... weird. So are you from Mars?" Duh, Joy! If she's called 'Miss Martian' she's obviously from Mars. Stop being weird. "Sorry, I'm Calix - that's my code name."

Miss Martian smiles at her, ignoring or just completely unaware of Joy's perceived apprehension, "I'm so glad I'm not the only girl on the team"

"Well, I-"

"And your outfit! It's so cute!"

Joyce's face lights up, "Thank you! You know, I made the top mys-"

She didn't notice the zeta teleporter announce the arrival of two more to the cave, too distracted by Miss Martian. Maybe if she had she'd better avoided nearly getting tackled to the ground. Joyce shoves Wally off of her shoulders, glaring at him as she attempts to regain her composure.

"I didn't think you were going to come," Wally says with a grin.

"I'm starting to think I shouldn't have," it was nice to know at least one other person here, her heart didn't feel like it was going to jump out of her chest anymore.

"Did you ask him?" Joyce hadn't even noticed the other boy until then. Robin, she guesses, was smaller than she thought he'd be - and he was wearing sunglasses inside. Ugly ones at that. An interesting fashion choice, not that any of the boys seemed to have put any effort into their outfits.

(So much for first impressions, they obviously hadn't done their research.)

There's a ghost of excitement in Aqualad's eyes as he turns towards the boys, "He's arriving now."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Wally runs off in the opposite direction, Robin and Aqualad following suit.

"Who exactly are we going to meet?" Joyce asks looking at Miss Martian and Superboy. Superboy, ever welcoming, crosses his arms and turns to follow the others.

"Come on," Miss Martian lightly grabs her by the wrist and floats towards the exit.

The wind whips up around Joy as she steps outside, causing her to instinctively go to fix her hair. Red Tornado lands before the six of them. She'd heard of Red Tornado, briefly, there were so many superheroes on Earth to keep track of, but the fact that there was a literal robot in the League was something that had always stuck out to her.

"Greetings," Red Tornado looks around at the group of them. Whereas most of the other Leaguers she's met had the same air of expectation, similar to the feeling she got from John, Red Tornado's vibe was different. Maybe it was because he is a robot after all, but presumably, he still made the conscious decision to do good. "Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?"

"We hoped you had a mission for us." Aqualad gestures towards him.

Wait, mission? No, no, no. Joyce looks to the others, who all, save for Superboy, have similar hopeful, eager expressions.

"Missions assignments are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado responds impassively.

"But it's been over a week and nothing -"  Hopeful expressions on Wally, Robin, and Aqualad's faces quickly shift into frustration.

"You'll be tested soon enough," Red Tornado states firmly, silencing Robin simply by raising his hand. "For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."

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

"No, but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise," Tornado begins to walk toward the cave, signaling the end of the conversation.  Between Superboy and Tornado, this was not quite the welcoming she was expecting. "Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourselves with the cave."

"I thought today was just supposed to be meet the team day," Joyce says softly, looking around at the others. Superboy just gives her a shrug. At least it was something.

"Keep Busy," Wally repeats.

"Does he really think we're falling for this?" Annoyance laces both Robin and Wally's tones.

"Oh, I'll find out," Miss Martian offers, turning to focus on the robot as he enters the cave. She sighs in defeat, "I'm sorry, I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I cannot read his mind."

"Nice try though," Wally leans in towards Miss Martian with a grin, "So, uh, you know what I'm thinkin' right now?"

"Yuck, we all know what you're thinking right now," Joyce's lip curls in discomfort as Robin elbows Wally in the back.

Aqualad, with his hands in his pockets, looks at the others. Disappointed, though not with them. "And now we tour the clubhouse."

"Well, Superboy and I live here. We can play tour guides." Miss Martian offers, turning their attention toward Superboy.

He scoffs, "Don't look at me."

"We won't," Wally turns back towards Miss Martian, the same flirtatious grin plastered on his face, "A private tour sounds much more fun."

"Sh-she never said private," Robin argues.

"I'd like a tour as well," Joyce interjects, annoyedly, "Some of us have never been here before."

"And whose fault is that? You were invited-" Wally turns to counter her but is ultimately interrupted.

"- Team building. We'll all go." Aqualad states, calming any argument before it can begin.

"So, this would be our front door..." Miss Martian begins, moving down the ramp and back into the cave. It was truly ginormous, with a whole kitchen, gym, infirmary, library, and more miscellaneous rooms than she could count. If you could think of it, you could probably find it somewhere. Joyce was particularly fond of the back exit and the ledge that overlooked the small town. They reentered into another main room of the cave with a large pool of water that emptied back out into the harbor. "... the cave is actually the whole mountain."

"It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League," Wally adds. Right, something-something they needed a different League HQ because of bad guys, something-something The Hall of Justice. Joyce watches unimpressed, arms crossed as Wally and Robin compete to reassure Miss Martian that even though the villains know about the cave, they're hiding in plain sight. Ugh, Cool Teen Magazine was right, teenage Earth boys are gross.

Superboy's head snaps towards the back of the cave, "I smell smoke."

"My cookies!" Miss Martian gasps, taking off towards the kitchen. The rest of them follow behind her, entering the kitchen as a smoldering cookie sheet hits the counter. "I was trying to Grammy Jones' recipe from episode seventeen of - ah, never mind."

"I bet they'd tasted great. He doesn't seem to mind." Robin nods towards Wally who had begun shoveling charred cookies into his mouth.

"I have a serious metabolism," He offers weakly, mouth still half-full.

Miss Martian's brow raises slightly, "I'll... make more?"

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

"Thanks, Aqualad."

"We're off duty.  Call me Kaldur'ahm - actually, my friends call me Kaldur," He offers without hesitation.

"I'm Wally. And this is Sadness-"

"-My name's Joyce" She corrects, elbowing Wally in the side.

He smirks at her as he leans into the counter, "See? I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here." He gestures towards Robin, who glares back at him. "Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."

"Well, mine's no secret!" Miss Martian shares excitedly, "It's M'gann M'orzz. But you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, I'm on Earth now."

It confuses Joyce, how excited M'gann is to be on Earth, and maybe even makes her a little jealous. To be so far from home and not be so homesick it makes you nauseous.

"What made you decide to join us? You were so against it last time we talked" She shakes the thoughts from her head as she turns towards Wally, who takes a bite of another charred cookie. In addition to all of the adults she knew, he'd called her several times and even made the trip to Coast City to try to convince her, she'd been a bit more stubborn then.

"I haven't decided anything, I'm here purely for research purposes."

"What kind of research?" Robin asks, slightly suspicious.

"Oh you know, secret identities, weaknesses, home addresses, normal stuff to sell to your enemies," Joyce laughs, she's  getting so good at Earth sarcasm. "Just kidding. I am considering joining your team but I can't make an informed decision until I know if it's a good fit for me. No data will be published but-"

"Get out of my head!" Joy is taken aback by Superboy's shouting, she flinches, hitting her hand against the granite countertop. They watch as he grips his head in anguish then turn towards M'gann.

What's wrong? I don't understand. She asks telepathically, frightened and confused. The boys react poorly, gripping their heads, closing their eyes, clenching their fists. Joyce frowns at them, it wasn't that bad, actually quite pleasant compared to what she could do, which was more like a rattling than a telepathic mind link. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.

"M'gann stop," Kaldur commands, attempting to keep his composure, but there's still a little edge in his tone. Seeing the hurt in M'gann's eyes, Joyce goes to interject, but Kaldur continues, "Things are different on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

"Besides," Wally chimes in with a lighter tone. He partially covers his mouth, as if to make sure the person with superhearing doesn't hear, "Cadmus' creepy little psychic G-gnomes left a bad taste in his brain"

"I-I didn't mean to-" M'gann attempts, looking around at the others.

"Just stay out." Superboy growls, stomping over to the couch.

Joyce takes this as her opportunity to move towards the other girl, "Don't worry about him - or any of them," She turns to Wally, Kaldur, and Robin with a pointed glare, then back to M'gann with a reassuring smile, "Earth customs are so weird, I've been here for almost three years and they still confuse me. Like I am 'respecting my elders' why are you hitting me with your purse - Anyways, I can teach you all you need to know about being an Earth girl!"

M'gann's expression shifts almost immediately, "Hello, Megan!" She says abruptly, hitting herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand. Joyce takes a step back, maybe it's a Martian thing? "I know what we can do!"

She then takes off down the hallway in a hurry, and after a brief moment of confusion, the rest of them follow after her. Except for Superboy.

(Perhaps they missed the decent person part of Superman when they cloned him.)

Halfway down the hallway, M'gann stops in her tracks, taking account of who followed her before flying back towards the kitchen, "Wait here."

"Leave him! He's just going to -" Joyce attempts to call out, but the other girl is already too far gone.

"So, you're really an alien?" Robin asks with both curiosity and a hint of suspicion. Joyce's eyes narrow at the boy.

"Not cool, dude, she doesn't like being called that," Wally interjects.

"Sorry," Robin rubs the back of his neck. "So, what brings you to Earth?"

"Totally normal things, you know, vacationing, invading, conquering," she shrugs as she steps towards Robin. Having the advantage of being quite a few inches taller than him, Joyce leans in slightly. "It's totally... none of your business!"

Sighing in relief as M'gann returns with Superboy, Joyce pivots away from the boy and towards the hangar.

༻✦༺

"It's my Martian bioship," M'gann exclaims as the elevator doors open, revealing a large red egg-shaped object.

"Cute," Wally offers. "Not aerodynamic, but cute."

"It's at rest, silly. I'll wake it," M'gann laughs, reaching out her hand. The pod morphs into an actual ship, something Joyce has rarely, if ever, seen (and she's been on three whole space missions!). With another gesture, turns around, opening a ramp. M'gann turns to the others with a smile, "Well, are you coming?"

Joyce follows M'gann without hesitation into the ship's cockpit, where six chairs appear, one captain's chair on a platform and five along the large window, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Strap in for launch!"

Joyce takes a seat, and the boys file in after her, Wally and Kaldur to her sides, and Robin opposite her. Two seatbelts fasten over her chest as they are literally strapped in, "Neat."

"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors," as the doors open, two control towers appear at M'gann's sides.

The BioShip shoots out of the hangar and out into the harbor. Doing flips and flying at a speed that makes Joyce slightly nauseous, but ultimately the view is worth it. Happy Harbor and the Cave certainly make the pro list. Sometimes Earth wasn't as horrible and ugly as she originally thought it was.

"Incredible!" Robin exclaims.

"She sure is..." Wally sighs. Joyce turns towards him, her brow raised, then towards M'gann, stifling a laugh. "I-I mean the ship, which like all ships is a she."

"Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth," Robin quips, as Wally sinks into his seat.

"Dude!"

Only half-tuned in to the conversations around her, Joyce turns back around to a sad expression on M'gann's face.

"He'll come around," Robin offers softly.

M'gann's expression doesn't change, as she looks down at her feet, "He doesn't seem to like me much."

"He doesn't seem to like anyone much," Joyce murmurs.

"You guys remember he has super-hearing, right?" Wally cuts in, not bothering to lower his voice.

Joyce can feel another pause coming, another awkward silence, but Robin quickly intervenes, changing the topic, "Hey, how 'bout showing us a little Martian shape-shifting?"

M'gann nods thankfully toward Robin. Standing up her outfit begins to change into a feminine and taller version of the boy, cape included. She twirls around and is suddenly Kid Flash (also taller and feminine). One more twirl and Joyce is staring back at Calix.

"Neat," She whispers, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"And your clothes," Kaldur asks.

"They're organic like the ship," M'gann, back in her original form, explains as she shows off her cardigan. "They respond to my mental commands."

"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy says turning back around.

"Ignore him," Joyce turns around so she's sitting backward on her knees with her arms resting on top of the back of the chair. "So you can create any outfit you want with just a thought. Ugh, that is so cool! I wish I could do that but I'm stuck pricking my fingers on sewing needles"

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

"Density shifting?" M'gann shakes her head. "No, it's a very advanced technique."

"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall," Robin leans forward with a chuckle. "When he tries it, bloody nose."

"Dude!"

"Here's something I can do," The Bioship suddenly disappears from outside view. "Camouflage mode."

"Also, I know psychic powers are a touchy subject," Joyce says, not bothering to whisper or even acknowledge Superboy, "But you're so good at telepathy, it's a Martian thing, I know, but for some reason, there's a lot of feedback whenever I try."

"Wait, wait, wait," Wally exclaims, turning Joyce's chair towards him. "Since when were you a telepath?"

"Since, like, I don't know, maybe two or three months ago," she waves him off, "I definitely told you."

"You definitely did n-"

"Red Tornado to Miss Martian," Tornado's voice interrupts Wally. He shoots her a 'we'll talk about this later' look as Joyce shrugs and turns to sit normally in her chair. "An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate. Covertly. I'm sending coordinates."

"Received. Adjusting course."

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

Joyce sinks into her chair as the Bioship flies over the power plant, feeling a distinctly bad feeling.

"Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy," M'gann offers, reminding them of the oh-so-fateful night. Joyce shudders to think what they may find at their destination. "We should find out what caused the alert."

"I think I know the cause," Superboy points out, turning their attention towards the tornado coming right towards them.

Joyce closes her eyes and grips onto her chair as the Bioship is swept into the whirlwind. She doesn't dare reopen her eyes until M'gann restabilizes the ship and her feet are flat on solid ground.

Wind whistling through the building and the fearful shrieks threaten to overtake her senses, but this has become a mission, much to her distain, she has to focus now. However, the first thing Joy notices once she opens her eyes a certain dark haired boy running ahead, already half-way to the power plant.

Stupid earth boy going off alone, She thinks taking off after him, What are they teaching on this planet?

Windows at the top of the building shatter as she reaches the entrance, pausing slightly but pushing forward. She would have nearly missed the red and black blur had it not knocked her and Robin off their feet with a concentrated gust of wind.

(Two seconds in to their first... "mission," and she's already fallen on her butt. Immediate con.)

"Oh Suns, we're not in Kansas anymore - ha, because tornadoes - oh shoot," Joyce's poor attempt at making a joke is stifled when she notices the pair of sunglasses a few inches from her feet. She closes her eyes as she kicks them back towards their owner. "I would like to state for the record that I respect that your secret identity is none of my business."

(He has blue eyes. Pretty, like the sky).

(Literally shut up, Joyce).

Still reeling from the impact, she flinches as Superboy lands between her and Robin, making the ground shake and her head spin, "Who's your new friend?"

"Didn't catch his name," Robin shouts as the others reach them. Before Joyce can even push herself back to her feet, Superboy jumps into action. "But he plays kind of rough!"

Joy lets Kaldur to help her stand up, giving him a small nod in thanks as they turn towards their attacker. For the first time, she's able to get a good look at him, red and black mechanical exo-suit - or maybe some kind of robot, only slightly wider than red tornado - with blue tubing around his back.

"My apologies," His voice is monotonous but drags. Bursts of wind circle at his feet. "You may address me as Mr. Twister."

"Mr. Twister? Really, very creative." Joyce sneers, trying to take Twister's attention away from Superboy charging towards him. She winces as the mech sends several tornadoes towards the clone. Superboy manages to withstand the heavy winds but is sent into the farthest wall as Twister forms another tornado at his feet.

The rest of them form up, nodding to each other before jumping into action. Placing his goggles over his eyes, Wally rushes towards Twister, but is flung out of the power plant and into the adjacent field after barely landing a hit.

While Kaldur and M'gann rush Twister, Joyce runs off towards the side in attempt of some sort of aerial sneak attack. Silver disks form at her feet, leaping from disk to disk, gaining altitude, Twister is still too fast. Immediately after sending Kaldur and M'gann across the room, he turns towards Joyce, the ferocious winds hitting her square in the chest and sending her careening  into the empty field.

Before her crash landing, she forms a silver bubble around her to lessen the impact as she hits the ground. The bubble bounces then pops and she lands firmly on her butt in the grass.

Two strikes. Three and you're out.

Joyce pushes herself to her feet and brushes the dirt off of her jeans, turning around to find Wally still sprawled out in the earth. She approaches him with her lip curled, "Are you dead?"

"Still breathing," He groans as he sits up. Suddenly his eyes widen and Wally jumps to his feet and zips off back towards the powerplant

Joy tries not to think about the state of the others as Mr. Twister exits the building unperturbed, and runs back after Wally.

After watching her friend nearly slam into the concrete building, Joyce, slightly out of breath, catches up with the rest of the team, wind beginning to pick up around them.

"I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now," Twister announces with a bit more of a tone than she had noticed earlier.

"What do you want?" Aqualad yells back.

"Isn't it obvious," Twister raises sanctimoniously into the sky. There's a brief pause, which in Joyce's opinion, was sorely missing some evil laughter. "I'm waiting for a real hero."

(Okay. That cut a little).

Aqualad looks over his shoulder towards M'gann, "Read his mind, find his weakness."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that," M'gann's voice panicked as she looks towards the rest of the team.

"It's okay with the bad guys," Robin yells.

M'gann's brow furrows, "Nothing. I'm getting nothing!" Her expression relaxes, as she, once again, knocks the palm of her hand against her forehead, "Hello, Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise!"

Joyce looks towards Twister then back towards the other girl, frowning slightly.

"He's inorganic, an android," M'gann explains enthusiastically. "And how many androids do you know that generate tornadoes?"

"Red Tornado sent us here," the realization dawns on Aqualad.

"After saying we'd be tested soon enough," Robin agrees bitterly. "This is his test, something to keep us busy."

"Speedy called it," Wally lowers his head slightly. "We're a joke."

Joyce presses her lips together, confused as to why anyone, especially Roy, would think of this as a joke. She certainly was not laughing.

"This game. So over." Wally stomps before the android, Robin and Kaldur beside him.

"We know who you are and what you want!" Robin shouts.

"So let's end this," Aqualad says firmly.

"Considered it ended," Joyce can almost hear the wicked chuckle as Twister raises his arms over his head and the sky darkens and the wind begins to whip up around them as a giant tornado forms from the storm clouds.

"Hey guys... aren't Red Tornado's tornadoes red?" Joyce's concern is lost beneath the howling wind, as her gaze hardens at Mr. Twister.

"An impressive show," Kaldur calls out. "But we will not indulge you. We will not engage."

Lightning cracks behind Twister. Joy takes a step back, the static causing her ears to ring.

"Uh, can Red Tornado... do that?" Wally asks the other boys, all of their expressions flipped as the truth becomes apparent.

"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic." More lightning fills the skies, the winds growing stronger. Lightning strikes the ground before them sending the six teens flying.

(Crash)

Joyce would've considered that the third strike, maybe the fourth, fifth, and sixth strike considering she fell on her butt so hard she probably lost consciousness for a moment - if the ringing in her ears hadn't become so loud it made it hard to think. Her vision blurs, dark spots going in and out of her periphery as Twister approaches them.

"- So stay concealed. If you confront me again, I will show no mercy," The ringing begins to fade out as Twister turns towards Happy Harbor.

"What happened?" Wally asks as the rest of the team begins to come to.

"I placed the bioship between us," M'gann explains.

A loud crash comes from behind them as Superboy pummels some debris in frustration, and begins to stalk towards M'gann, "And that's supposed to make it right? You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado."

"That's not fair," Joyce objects, pushing herself to her feet, albeit a little wobbly. Every bit of contact making the buzzing beneath her fingers grow stronger, she winces slightly as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"She didn't do it on purpose," Kaldur agrees as they stand around M'gann, who remains on her knees.

"It... It was a rookie mistake," Robin sighs, "We shouldn't have listened."

"You are pretty inexperienced," Wally adds, both him and Robin looking down and the ground sheepishly. "Hit the showers. We'll take it from here."

"Stay out of our way," Superboy grunts, begins to go after Twister once again, Wally and Robin following shortly behind.

M'gann hangs her head, hair falling into her face and tears beginning to well up in her eyes, "I was just trying to be part of the team."

Kaldur looks at M'gann, then to Joyce, "To be honest... I'm not sure we really have a team." He sighs before running off after the other boys.

(And burn)

This is what she wanted, isn't it. All she had really been looking for were excuses not to join the team, and she couldn't have been handed a better one than that spectacular failure. All data pointed to this being a bad idea. Cons way out weighed the pros. The thing in her that would've been relieved a few hours ago... just felt sad.

Joy steps in front of M'gann, the four boys already long gone, and offers her a hand, "I once called Hawkwoman Wonder Woman, not a mission ending mess up, sure, but far more embarrassing, and not to mention super disrespectful to mix up two powerful women. I will never live that down"

༻✦༺

Back on the bioship, Joyce frowns as she watches tornadoes tear through Happy Harbor.  All that damage to such a quaint little town and from the looks of it the boys weren't doing anything but making it worse.

"The Team really needs your help,"   M'gann admits to Red Tornado, who appears on the screen before her.

"He said he wanted a real hero - you could take care of him and we could make sure all the the civilians are safe," Joy suggests weakly. "We're supposed the be the behind the scenes team anyways, right?"

"If I intervened, it would not be to help," Tornado replies. "Still, it is an odd coincidence that this Twister shares my elemental abilities and my immunity to telepathy."

That was just about the response Joyce was expecting from Red Tornado. There had to be something they could do, if they could get the upper hand on Twister even for a moment...

Joyce and M'gann look to each other, "Hello, Megan!" M'gann exclaims, slapping herself on the forehead once more.

༻✦༺

A plan is set in place. Joyce slips from the concealed bioship as it dives over the debris Twister had left in his wake. The few civilians left flee in the opposite direction as she rushes towards the pier.

"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up," Twister's voice echoes over the harbor. M'gann - disguised as Red Tornado - stands down the android as a silence falls over the empty square.

"I'm here now," the winds begin to pick up again as Twister counteracts M'gann and Wally's initial attacks.

Lightning flashes and fire erupts from the middle of the town square before Twister is thrown into another tornado, and caught by Superboy. The clone gets a few good hits on the android, leaving him smoking and sparking before launching him into the harbor. Moments later, Twister erupts from the water, and lands on the dock, missing an arm.

Two silver ribbons curl around Twister's ankles as M'gann lifts him with her telekinesis, simultaneously the two girls pull, ripping the androids limbs clean off. With one final explosion from one of Robin's disks, Mr. Twister careens towards the ground

The team gathers around the spluttering torso of their attacker, as a middle aged man crawls out, "Foul. I call foul!"

M'gann steps in front of the man, and before anyone can stop her, she drops a large boulder on top of him.

Joyce places a hand over her mouth as Robin stomps angrily towards Miss Martian, "Don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth, we don't execute our captives!"

"You said you trust me," She looks over to Joyce, who fails to stifle a laugh. The boulder is lifted off of the ground, revealing crushed pieces of metal. "That's why I couldn't read his mind."

"What did I tell you about Earth boys," Joy laughs. "So dumb."

Wally, undeterred, bends down in front of the androids remains and grabs one of the eyeballs, tossing it up and catching it. "Cool, souvenir."

"We should have had more faith in you," says Kaldur, placing a hand on M'ganns shoulder.

"Yeah," Wally agrees. "You rocked this mission. Get it? Rocked."

"Ignore him," Robin says as Joy shakes her head. "We're all just 'turbed you're on the team."

M'gann smiles, "Thanks. Me too."

༻✦༺

A still, windless night falls over Happy Harbor, and the Cave feels less imposing, less empty. The team haunts the kitchen, too worn out to do anything else but not quite ready to return to their homes and end the day. M'gann digs through the fridge with Wally looming right behind her, chatting and flirting nonsensically. Kaldur and Superboy rest on the couches as Joy remains in the threshold, arms crossed over her chest.

"Care to share the findings of your research?" Robin asks, appearing beside her.

"Hm, inconclusive," she hums. A lot had happened, she was too tired to determine what was actually a con and what could potentially be a pro. "More data collection is required."

Wally zips away M'gann and towards Joy and Robin, and tugs at her sleeve, "Quick! Read my mind!"

"Ew, no, what?" Joy steps back.

"You're a telepath now, apparently, so, read my mind."

"That's not how it works," She sighs. "And you didn't react well when M'gann did that. I guarantee this will be considerably worse."

"Nah," he says confidently, "I was just caught off guard, I'm ready now."

"Alright, if you say so," Joy runs her hand over the bracelet of braided ribbon on her wrist before rolling her sleeves up, "Let me see your hand."

She slaps Wally's outstretched hand, wincing slightly as a feedback-like ringing erupts beneath her skull. The rest of the room turns towards Wally as he dramatically doubles over.

I told you so.

What?

She rolls her eyes, I - just go outside.

What?

Go. Outside.

Okay. In a gust of air, Wally runs out of the cave and back into Happy Harbor. A few moments later the ringing dies out. Oh, that's less awful, connection still sucks, though.

Yeah, I think it's supposed to be some form of long distance communication. Not entirely sure what it has to do with my powers, but it is a thing that I can do now.

Still cool. I'm going to come back now.

Wait, let me dis- Wally stumbles back into the kitchen as the feedback returns at full force.

author's note:
i finished this at 2:30am but it only took me a little over 6 months so it's a win for me.

i'm really trying to capture early 2000s coming of age movie vibes with this and particularly how i'm portraying joy. really fun and colorful until things start, as the actual vibe of the show does, take a turn for the sad and gray

ok thx for reading appreciate u. my goal is to get ch3 out in less than 6 months or maybe even before the end of the year but that's a bit of a stretch lol

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