Mr. Twister
Next Saturday arrives, and the ghost twins have become familiar with the cave. They know it inside and out. Right now, the team is in the mission room with the holographic computer up, tracking Red Tornado. Robin and KF just arrived. All of the team are dressed as normal civilians, except Phantom and Spook.
"Did you ask him?" Robin asks, running up with KF beside him.
"What did he say?" KF asks, stopping beside Spook.
"Aww, you have freckles," Spook says, admiring Wally's face. KF flashes her a grin.
"He is arriving now," Aqualad says.
"Then what are we waiting for?" KF says excitedly and rushes off toward the front of the cave. They all race after him. The hatch opens, and they all walk up it. KF waves to Red Tornado. "Red Tornado!"
Red Tornado comes down in his tornado and it disperses underneath him. "Greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?"
"We hoped you had a mission for us," Aqualad responds.
"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado flat lines.
"But it's been over a week, and nothing–" Robin starts.
"You'll be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company," Red Tornado says.
"This team is not a social club," Aqualad says.
"No, but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave."
"Keep busy," KF scoffs, lightly punching Robin.
"Does he think we're falling for this?" Robin scoffs.
"Oh, I'll find out," M'gann says.
The system scans Red Tornado as he walks into the cave. "Recognized: Red Tornado, 16."
M'gann sighs. "I'm sorry. I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I cannot read his mind."
"Nice try, though," KF reassures and looks up to her with a smirk. "So, uh, you know what I'm thinkin' right now?"
"We all know what you're thinkin' now," Robin and Phantom scoff, smacking his back.
"Ow."
"And now we tour the clubhouse," Aqualad sighs.
"Well, Superboy, Phantom, Spook, and I live here. We can play tour guides," M'gann suggests.
Everyone turns to looks at them.
"Don't look at me," Superboy scoffs.
"We won't," KF quickly comments, turning to M'gann and Spook. "A private tour sounds much more fun."
"Sh-she never said private," Robin fusses.
"Team building," Aqualad says. "We will all go."
Robin shoves KF, and he huffs in annoyance.
"What are we, five?" Spook huffs, her and Phantom floating by them.
"Could you walk normally?" Robin huffs.
"Walking is overrated," Phantom scoffs, doing a twirl. "Especially when you can fly."
"So," M'gann interrupts. "This would be our front door..." They head into the cave and head back out from the back. "And this would be the back."
"If you're ever looking for me, I'll most likely be here," Spook says, looking out at the view from the back. "This is my favorite place to be."
"Noted," Kid Flash says.
"It is a pretty view," Aqualad comments.
They stare out at the view for a while before they head back inside.
"The cave is actually the entire mountain," M'gann continues.
"It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League," KF quickly comments.
"Then why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asks.
"The cave's secret location was compromised," Aqualad states.
"So they traded it in for a tourist trap? Yeah, that makes sense," Superboy scoffs.
"If villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert," M'gann concludes.
"The bad guys know we know they know about the place, so they'd never think to look here," Spook says.
"Which means we're hiding in plain sight," KF says.
"Ah, that's much clearer," M'gann says, still not fully getting it.
Superboy suddenly sniffs. "I smell smoke."
M'gann gasps. "My cookies!" she shouts and flies off to the kitchen. The team gives each other a look before they follow after her. "I was trying out grammy Jones recipe from episode 17 of—Heh, never mind..."
"I bet they'd have tasted great," Robin comments, pointing at KF. "He doesn't seem to mind."
"Eww," Phantom says.
"Could you crunch any louder?" Spook scoffs.
"I have a serious metabolism," KF says guiltily.
"I'll make more?" M'gann says unsure.
"It was sweet of you to make any," Aqualad says.
"Thanks, Aqualad."
"We're off duty," Aqualad says. "Call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."
"I'm Wally," KF says. "See? I already trust you with my secret I.D. unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here. Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."
"Mine's no secret. It's M'gann M'orzz. But, you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now."
Phantom gives Spook a pleading look, but she shakes her head. "It's nice to meet you," Spook says.
Superboy walks off and a little feeling comes into his mind.
'Don't worry, Superboy,' Megan's voice appears in his head. Superboy grunts and turns to Megan annoyed. 'We'll find you an Earth name, too.'
"Get out of my head!" Superboy scoffs.
'What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.'
Phantom and Spook look at the team confused. "What's going on?" Phantom asks, looking at the team grip their heads in pain.
"M'gann, stop," Kaldur demands. "Things are different on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."
"Why weren't we affected?" Phantom asks.
"I guess ghosts are harder to talk telepathically with," Spook guesses. "We must have some kind of block."
"Besides, Cadmus' creepy little psychic G-gnomes left a bad taste in his brain," Wally comments.
"I-I didn't mean to–" Megan says.
"Just. Stay. Out," Superboy huffs and sits on the couch in the living room nearby.
Spook and the team look at each other. "I'll talk to him."
"Hello, Megan." She smacks herself in the head. "I know what we can do." She flies over everyone back into the hangar, and the rest follow, except Superboy and Spook.
Spook sits on the table in front of Superboy. Superboy's head is turned to his left, looking away from Spook.
"Don't talk to me."
"I wasn't going to," Spook says. "I was just gonna keep you company until you were gonna talk." She shrugs. "And now since you have... You know Megan didn't mean to do it. She's adapting just like we all are. We're all going to have to build trust."
He sighs, turning to look into Spook's purple eyes. "Thanks."
Spook smiles and takes his hand. "Now, how about we go join the others?"
He looks down at her hand in confusion and yanks his hand from her grasp. "I can feel you," he says shocked.
"Hmm, maybe it's an alien thing?" Spook lies, knowing he's Kryptonian from the files she read about everyone. She takes his hand again and pulls him to get caught up to the others. She releases his hand as they arrive in the hangar.
"It's my martian bioship," Megan says.
"Cute. Not aerodynamic, but cute," Wally says.
"It's at rest, silly. I'll wake it," she waves her hand, and it unfolds into a ship. The ship spins around, and the back opens up into a walkway. "Well, are you coming?" They all follow her into the ship. "Strap in for launch."
"Whoa," Robin comments, getting wrapped in the seat that formed from the ground.
"Cool," Wally says, accepting the chair.
From where Megan is, Robin is to her right and Wally to her left. In the front sits Aqualad and Superboy. Spook next to Superboy and Phantom next to Aqualad.
"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors," Megan says.
They exit the cave and fly high over Happy Harbor.
"Incredible," Robin exclaims.
Wally sighs. "She sure is," he says, looking dreamily at Megan. "I-I mean the ship, which, like all ships, is a she."
"Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth," Robin comments, earning a snicker from Phantom and Spook.
"Dude!" Wally huffs.
"I may not have psychic powers, but I can guess what you're thinking. You overreacted, and you don't know how to apologize. Just say sorry," Kaldur says to Superboy.
Superboy gives him the cold shoulder and turns his head in Spook's direction. Spook gives him a goofy smile to try to cheer him up. He grunts in return and turns to face forward.
"Hey, how 'bout showing us a little martian shape-shifting?" Robin suggests.
They all turn to face her as she stands up and shapeshifts into Spook. Megan then shifts into a genderbent version of Robin then Kid Flash.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally sighs after she shape shifts into him.
"Impressive, but you know you're not exactly gonna fool anyone with those," Robin admits.
"Mimicking boys is a lot harder."
"And your clothes?" Kaldur asks.
"They're organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands."
"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy scoffs.
Miss Martian looks down as if his words hurt.
"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?" Wally perks up, trying to change the mood.
"Density shifting? No. I-it's a very advanced technique."
"Pssh, for you," Spook scoffs. "Ghosts naturally have it."
"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall. Heh heh heh. When he tries it, bloody nose," Robin says.
Phantom and Spook giggle.
"Dude!" Wally fusses.
"Here's something I can do," Megan says, pressing a button. "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."
They all look around at each other.
"Received. Adjusting course."
Robin scoffs. "Tornado's keeping us busy again."
"Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert," Megan says, being the positive alien she is.
"I think I know the cause," Superboy and Spook say, looking out the window at the tornado coming straight for them.
They get sucked into the tornado and if they weren't strapped in, they'd be bouncing all over the place. They all groan as Megan gets them out of there and lands it for them to get out.
"Robin, are tornadoes common to New England?" Aqualad asks. "Robin?"
A creepy laugh resounds through the area.
"He was just here," Megan comments.
"He's already inside," Spook says.
They rush in the factory right as Robin gets thrown against a steel beam and grunts in pain.
Superboy jumps up next to him. "Who's your new friend?"
"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kinda rough!" Robin shouts after Superboy, who's heading toward the android.
"My apologies. You may address me as Mr. Twister." He blasts Superboy back, and Spook catches him before he smacks into the wall. Everyone goes to attack but are all blown back. "I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not, however, expecting children."
"We're not children!" Robin yells as Spook and Phantom appear next to him. Robin throws his exploding birdarang discs at him which are flicked away easily.
"Objectively, you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."
The team gathers around, except KF who's still down outside.
"Well, we hate to see you disturbed. Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can."
Miss Martian explodes a machine from above him, causing steam to cover Mr. Twister. Superboy jumps up, planning to knock some sense into the android but gets blown back instead and crashes into Miss Martian. Robin and Aqualad run toward him and both get lifted in a twister and smashed together. Phantom and Spook disappear and try to get close but are blown away by the small twister surrounding the android. Instead, they begin shooting their ectobeams at him. He blasts them with a wind attack, and they are sent flying back. They turn intangible to phase through the wall to not get hurt.
"Indeed. That was quite turbing," Mr. Twister says, exiting the factory. "Thank you."
Phantom and Spook help their team up before they all walk out of the factory. Miss Martian catches KF from crashing into the factory from a twister.
"I got you, Wally," Miss Martian says.
"Ohh. Thanks."
"I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now," Mr. Twister says.
"What do you want?!" Aqualad shouts.
"Isn't it obvious?" The android flies into the air. "I'm waiting for a real hero."
"Read his mind. Find a weakness," Aqualad says to Miss Martian.
"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that."
"It's ok with the bad guys!" Robin huffs.
She puts her hand to her head to concentrate. "Nothing," she says. "I'm getting nothing. Hello, Megan." She smacks her head. "Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise. He's inorganic, an android. And how many androids do you know that can generate tornados?"
"Red Tornado sent us here," Aqualad huffs.
"After saying we'd be tested soon enough," Robin says. "This is his test, something to keep us busy."
"Speedy called it," KF complains. "We're a joke."
"Who's Speedy?" Spook and Phantom ask at the same time.
"Unh!" Aqualad huffs in frustration, punching his palm with his fist.
"This game, so over," KF says.
Robin, Aqualad, and KF walk up closer to Mr. Twister.
"We know who you are and what you want," Robin shouts.
"So let's end this," Aqualad says.
"Uh, guys, I don't think that's Red Tornado," Spook voices.
"Consider it ended," the android says, creating a giant tornado in the sky.
"An impressive show, but we will not indulge you," Aqualad says. "We will not engage."
Lighting strikes.
"Uh, can Red Tornado do that?" KF asks.
"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic." A large lightning bolt strikes the ground, throwing everyone back, but Spook and Phantom who phase through it.
"Brother," Spook shouts. "This brings me back to when we fought old Twisty!"
He laughs. "But this guy isn't a ghost!"
Superboy gets up and leaps at the android, only to get struck by lighting and skidded against the ground.
"We might need to help them," Phantom says.
"Right, forgot I have more than one person to take care of," Spook says.
The two ghosts rush over to the passed out team and form a purple ghost shield over them and turn it invisible to hide them.
"Fine, then. I won't deny you children have power, but playing hide-and-seek with you would not help me achieve my objectives, so stay concealed. If you confront me again, I will show no mercy." Megan and KF wake up half way through his speech. Mr. Twister flies off, leaving them alone.
"What happened?" KF asks, looking at Spook and Phantom.
"We put an invisible shield around us," Spook says, referring to her and her brother.
Superboy sits up and punches the large rock in front of him, demolishing it. "You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!" he shouts at Megan, standing over her.
"She did not do it on purpose," Aqualad says.
"I-It was a rookie mistake," Robin says. "We shouldn't have listened."
"You are pretty inexperienced," Wally says, looking at Megan. "Hit the showers. We'll take it from here."
"Stay out of our way," Superboy scoffs. Superboy, KF, and Robin all run in the direction of the android.
"I was just trying to be part of the team," Megan says in defeat.
"To be honest, I am not sure we really have a team," Aqualad says and runs off.
Spook looks at her brother then to Megan and leaves, following the others and leaving the two of them to talk. Spook catches up with the team, and they arrive where Mr. Twister is causing havoc.
"Certainly this will get the required attention," the android says.
"You got ours, full and undivided!" Wally shouts, running straight for him.
"So much for a surprise attack," Spook sighs.
"Immaterial and insufficient! You are a distraction I can no longer tolerate!" Mr. Twister shouts annoyed. Superboy comes from above and tries to pummel him, but he moves back just in time.
"If I can get close enough, I could possess and shut him down," Spook shouts.
The team all gets whipped around, and Superboy gets caught in a twister and almost smacks into Aqualad who dodges before he's squashed. Phantom arrives and quickly grabs Superboy before he gets smashed with a boat.
Megan's voice arrives in everyone's head which causes a pain to spark in everyone's heads.
'Listen to me. All of you,' Megan says, voice appearing in everyone's head.
"What did we tell you?!" Superboy shouts.
'I know, and I know I messed up, but now I'm very clear on what we need to do. Please trust me.'
Spook smirks as she hears the plan. "Nice."
"Hit the showers, team. I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly, you cannot," Megan says, disguised as Red Tornado.
"But we've got a plan now," Robin acts.
"The subject is not up for debate," Megan responds. They all act as if they're leaving.
"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up," Mr. Twister says.
"I'm here now," Megan says, bringing up a twister with KF's and Phantom's help. "We are evenly matched, Twister."
"No, Tornado, we are not," Mr. Twister says, taking Megan down. "Remain still, android." He extends cords from his fingertips and connects them to Megan's head. "The reprogramming won't take long."
"Longer than you might think," Megan says, grabbing the cords and transforming her head to her normal self.
"No." The android pulls away and falls into KF's twister. Superboy punches a hole through him and throws him into the water. Aqualad electrocutes him, exploding him up back onto the dock. Miss Martian rips him apart and Robin explodes him with his discs. Mr. Twister falls to the ground and slowly pushes himself up. Spook and Phantom smirk down at him as a man exits the android's body. The man groans. "Foul. I-I call foul."
Phantom and Spook enter the man's body and explodes him into pieces. Megan lifts up a large boulder and smashes it on top for good measure.
"Twins, M'gann, no!" Aqualad shouts.
"Don't know how things are done in Vermont or on Mars, but as heroes, we don't execute our captives!" Robin shouts at Megan and the ghosts as they appear in front of them.
Tell that to our parents. Spook thinks.
"You said you trust me," Megan says, lifting the rock and pointing at the man who was just a robot. "That's why I couldn't read his mind."
"We knew that," Spook says.
"We actually listen to what is said," Phantom adds with a smirk.
Wally walks over and picks up an eyeball, tossing it into the air and catching it. "Cool. Souvenir."
"We should have had more faith in you," Kaldur says to the ghosts and Megan.
"Yeah. You rocked this mission. Get it? Rocked?" Wally jokes. "Heh."
"Ignore him. We're all just turbed you're on the team," Robin says.
"Heh," Megan sighs. "Thanks. Me, too."
They head back to the bioship. Everyone gets on but Spook and Phantom.
Megan turns to them. "You coming?"
"I feel more comfortable flying myself," Spook says, looking at her brother.
"Same," he responds. "Being tossed around in that thing gave me a headache."
Megan chuckles. "I see what you mean."
They all head into the air, turning invisible/camouflage and returning to the mountain. They greet Red Tornado in the mission room.
"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you," Kaldur says.
"Agreed," Red Tornado says.
"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" Megan asks.
"No. This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve mine for me."
"But if you're in danger–" Megan says but is cut off.
"Consider this matter closed," Tornado says.
"Batman, Aquaman, and Flash, they'd have jumped right in to fix things," Wally scoffs.
"Guess if we're gonna have a babysitter, a heartless machine is exactly what we need," Robin says.
"Dude! Harsh," Wally scolds.
"And inaccurate," Tornado says. "I have a heart, carbon-steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing."
"You don't have to have a heart to be alive," Phantom scoffs, causing Spook to chuckle.
"Heh. Right. Sorry. I'll... strive to be... more accurate," Robin says.
"And more respectful," Kaldur adds, clasping Robin on the shoulder.
"Speedy was so wrong," Wally says. "This team thing..."
"Might just work out," Kaldur finishes.
The three of them leave through the zeta tubes, leaving behind the two ghosts, Superboy, and Megan. Spook nudges Superboy and directs her head in Megan's direction.
Superboy turns to face Megan, looking back at Spook for a second before returning to Megan. "Sorry." He leaves to his room as Megan gives a smile.
"Well, I'm beat," Spook comments. "I'm heading to bed, night, Megan. Night, fratello." Spook heads to her room, transforming once inside and slumping onto her bed into a fast slumber.
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