[Mount Justice, Happy Harbor]
[Samael]
Samael looked at himself in the mirror, taking in every inch of himself. Everything about him was unnervingly perfect. From the hair to the nose, lips, eyes, and even his musculature was perfectly symmetrical. Even being half—Kryptonian was a cheat, hell Lex made sure not a single piece of him was shown in this body, either that or the Luthor genes were weak.
In the first week, he found it freaky waking up in a body that wasn't his, but he was starting to get used to it. He trained daily for hours in the cave's gym, but he wasn't able to break a sweat. The only thing he did during this time was figure out all his powers.
The thing is, he felt like he knew what powers he had and didn't. He had the normal visions that Superman had, but he didn't have powers like Frost Breath and heat vision. Curiously, he did have Super-speed, and it wasn't something the Superboy from the show had.
Maybe this was because he was 18 years old, unlike his show counterpart, who was only 16, and this somehow gave him more powers? His hearing picked up the sound of the Zeta-Tube coming to life.
"Recognize: Robin; B-01, Kid-Flash; B-03." Samael sped into the main room to see them Robin and Wally walking up to Kaldur and M'gann with big grins on their face.
"Did you ask him?" Robin asks Kaldur, and Kid Flash follows up with another question. "What did he say?" Excitement was palpable on both their faces.
"He will be here soon."Kaldur answers them calmly, like always. Wally playfully punches Robin on the shoulder. "Then what are we waiting for?" Wally took off running, Robin followed close behind, with Kaldur in tow. He and M'gann walk behind them at a slower pace.
"So, how are you liking Earth so far?" Samael asked her.
"Oh, I just find it so amazing; it's so different from Mars. When I was on Mars, Uncle J'ohnn brought me some VHS tapes from Earth to watch, but I can watch many shows here." Megan said happily, a beaming Smile on her face.
"Yeah, I've been watching some of the movies here. Robin told me to watch this show called Dragon Ball. It's nice, a bit weird at times, but I'm liking it so far." Samael chuckled.
"Wally also took me to this coffee shop, Jitters, and said it was the best in the world. It was pretty good, better than Starbucks ." He continued, a smile on his face.
It did surprise him that Starbucks existed here, but he was speaking honestly when he said that Jitters was better. Their coffees were cheaper and tasted better; he can see why they dominated Starbucks here.
"I did see Wally drinking it. Maybe, next time I can go out with you." Megan spoke with a blush. "I-I mean if that's fine with you. Not like you—" Samael cut off her rambling.
"That's cool with me." He replied, smiling at her.
"Oh, that's. Yep, cool." She stayed quiet for a minute before speaking up once again.
"I went to the park they had here, and it was really cute. I even petted a dog! Ugh, there are still so many things I want to see, like going to the movies, a mall, or even High School and make friends there." Samael's face fell at the mention of High School. Yeah, he wasn't going to repeat High School in this life. No way.
They arrived at the garage, intercepting Red Tornado. Looking up, the android descended near them. "Red Tornado!" The Kid Flash calls out to the android caretaker with a wave.
"Greetings." Red Tornado says. "Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?" He asks them in a monotone voice.
"We are hoping you have a mission for us." Kaldur told the machine, though, if they were following canon, they'd soon have to face off the knock-off Red tornado, Mr Twister.
"Mission assignments are Batman's responsibility." Red Tornado replies.
This seemed to annoy Robin. "But it's been over a week and nothing—" Robin tries but is cut off.
"You'll be tested soon enough." The android states firmly. "For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company. "This Team is not a social club." Kaldur objected to this.
"No," Red Tornado agreed. "But I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourselves with the cave." Red Tornado walked past them and into the cave.
"Keep busy, he says." Kid Flash mimics the android.
"Does he think we're falling for this?" Robin questions angrily, and this makes Megan perk up.
"Oh, I'll find out." M'gann said excitedly, then turned towards Red Tornado, and her excited expression soon deflated. "Recognize, Red Tornado; 1-6."
Megan then sighs. "I'm sorry, I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I... can't read his mind."
"Nice try, though." Kid Flash offers. "So, uh, you know what I'm thinkin' right now?" He looks at her with a flirtatious smile, and a mix of amusement and disgust well up in him.
"We all know what you're thinkin' now." Robin grumbles and elbows the speedster's turned back.
"Ugh, such a horndog." Samael says, flicking the speedster on the forehead. "Ow!" Wally complains.
"And now we tour the clubhouse." Kaldur says sourly. "Well, Samael and I live here. We can play tour guides." Megan offers, looking at him with a bright smile.
"Sure." Samael offered her a reluctant smile.
"A private tour sounds so much better." Kid Flash says, looking at M'gann again. Samael sighs and flicks him again. "Ow! Dude, again?!" Kid Flash looks at him in mock anger while holding his forehead.
Samael chuckled. "Well, you keep making it easy to annoy you." He walked past his fallen friend.
"She never said private." Robin was embarrassed by his best friend's words. "Team building. We'll all go." Kaldur says, breaking up the argument before it can even start. "So, this would be our front door..." Megan officially begins the tour.
[A while later]
"And this would be the back." Megan continues as they come out on the other side of the mountain. "The cave is actually the entire mountain." Megan says, and Kid Flash goes on to add what he knows about the history of the mountain.
"It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League." Wally says, looking at the place in awe.
"So why'd they move?" Megan asks. He felt bad for Batman, having to spend more money because someone couldn't be careful. "The cave's secret location was... compromised." Kaldur explains. "Then if the bad guys know about the cave, then we should be on constant alert." She says seriously.
"The Bad Guys know we know they know about the place." Robin assures, grabbing her hand and turning her towards him, then putting his other hand on top of hers. What's up with him now? "So, they'd never think to look here."
"Uh." Kid Flash interrupts and removes Robin's hand from M'gann. "What he means is that we're hiding in plain sight." Megan still looked confused. "What they mean is that the villains won't think to look for us here because it's compromised, so why would we be here?" Samael explains to the Martian, and understanding dawns on her face.
"Weren't you making cookies?" Samael asks her.
"My cookies!" She quickly flies away, and they follow her to the kitchen. What she doesn't know is that he took them out a while ago, and he wanted to eat something sweet.
"Someone took them out?" She looks confused. The cookies were on the counter, fresh and not the burnt crisp she was expecting.
"I saw you making them a while ago, so I took them out before they could burn." Samael explains, taking a cookie off the tray and biting into it.
"Mmm, these are good. You should cook more often if you're this good." She blushes at the praise. Unexpectedly, she gave him a quick hug. "Thanks." She backed away before he could do anything.
"Uh, you're welcome." Samael says awkwardly.
"You're a lifesaver, M'gann, I'm starving." Kid Flash starts eating them with one in each hand. "Hey, leave some for the rest of us." Robin yells, taking a cookie.
"I have a fast metabolism." Wally tries to defend himself. "That sounds like a you problem, dude." Samael says, taking another cookie.
"It was sweet of you to make them." Kaldur tells her, making her duck her head, embarrassed.
"Thanks, Aqualad." Miss Martian says. "We're off duty. Call me Kaldur'ahm." he insists. "My friends call me Kaldur." Kaldur says with a friendly smile.
"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, putting his hands on his hips. "Batman forbade 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." Megan says excitedly about that fact.
"So, I have a question? Like your Uncle, can you speak to people in their minds?" Samael asks her, leaning on the island in curiosity. Megan turns to him. "Well, yeah, everyone on Mars speaks to each other telepathically. Wanna try?" This made him both cautious and intrigued.
"Alright. But don't go through my thoughts, okay?" She nodded her head, and her eyes lit up green.
'Hey!' The sound of Megan's voice gave him a jump scare. "Whoa, you're in my head?" It was the weirdest thing he's experienced so far. 'You can talk in your head, silly.'
'Can you hear me?' Samael asks her. 'Yup!' Megan's voice echoed in his head. 'That's pretty cool.Okay, you can cut the connection now.' He told her.
"How was it." Wally asked him. "Weird, that's for sure, but pretty cool." He told the speedster.
"I hope you don't go through minds, though." Robin says, looking at her. "Um, why wouldn't I? It's normal on Mars." Megans spoke innocently, and Samael started thinking carefully now. An entire race that could enter people's minds, and nobody would be the wiser. He'll need to build a device that can protect him against mind reading.
"It's a violation of people's private thoughts and is frowned upon on Earth." Kaldur explained to her. "So, what else should we do?" Samael decides to change the subject.
"Hello, Megan!" She said brightly, hitting her forehead. "I know what we can do." They made their way to the elevator and entered. The elevator chimed, the doors opened, and they exited.
They entered the hangar, and in front of them was a red oval-shaped object in the hangar. "It's my Martian BioShip." Megan says, while he stared at it in silent awe.
'Amazing that this simple-looking object can traverse the universe while Earth still hasn't even touched Mars. Although an actual society lives there, it's to be expected that they couldn't in this universe.' Samael thought.
"Cute." Wally said. "Not aerodynamic, but cute."
"It's at rest, silly." Megan smiles, reaching her hand out. "I'll wake it." As she does, the object transforms into a ship, and a ramp comes down the back.
Megan walks towards it but then turns towards them. "Well, are you coming?" He broke off from staring at the ship and started walking.
The inside of the ship was simple, but alien in design. The ship quickly formed chairs from the ground up. Samael sat down and watched as the others did, too. He felt the chair forming straps, holding him in place.
"Cool." Wally tells Megan, trying and failing to appear cool and serious. He snorted at the boy's lousy attempts at flirting.
"Red Tornado," Megan said, sitting in the captain's chair, "Please open the bay doors." As the bay doors open, two controls form in Megan's hands. The BioShip moved fast, but had no turbulence at all.
"Incredible!" Robin tells Megan. "You got that right." Samael mutters, looking at the water outside.
"She sure is..." Wally agrees but is staring at Megan, only for her to turn towards him, and he realizes what he said. "I—I mean the ship, which, like all ships, is a she." Samael laughed at that.
Robin capitalizes on his friend's mistake and mocks him."Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth." Which even managed to gain a chuckle from Kaldur.
"Dude!" Wally yells in embarrassment. "Hey, how 'bout showing us a little bit of Martian Shapeshifting?" Robin asks, changing the topic.
Megan nods before stepping up and gaining our attention as her clothes begin to change. Making her look like a feminine version of Robin, costume included. Catching Wally's smirk, she turns into a feminine version of Kid Flash.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally questions, his jaw agape at the sight of Megan. "Yes." Wally shoots him a glare, but Samael smirks at his friend.
Robin applauds Megan. "Impressive," She turns back into herself. "But you know you're not exactly going to fool anyone with those." Megan smiles softly as she sits down. "Mimicking boys is a lot harder."
"And your clothes?" Kaldur asks her.
"They're organic like the ship. They respond to my mental commands." Megan explains, pulling on her jacket slightly. "Can you do that ghosting through-walls thing ManHunter does?" Wally asks.
"Density shifting?" Megan questions. "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." This embarrassed Wally, making him snap at Robin. "Dude!"
"Here's something I can do." Megan said, her eyes glowed for a second, and the entire ship shifted. "Camouflage Mode." Samael looks out the window to see that the ship's wings have disappeared. The ship's comms came to life and
"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." Samael straightened at that, his eyes instantly turning alert.
"Received. Adjusting course." Miss Martian said, adjusting their course towards the incident, Robin scoffs. "Tornado's keeping us busy again." Robin said sourly.
Miss Martian replies optimistically. "Well, a simple fire led you to Sam. We should find out what caused the alert." She takes the BioShip down mere feet above the surface of the parking lot.
Samael felt a sense of danger and looked out the window, and his eyes widened at the sight of a tornado heading their way."Tornado coming our way!" He yells out, Miss Martian attempts to move the ship, but the Tornado manages to catch the ship.
Samael held onto the restraints as the ship spun, but soon felt as the ship stabilised. He looked around at the sight of his teammates holding onto their seats for their life.
As he stands up to leave the ship, he sees the room spin for a few seconds. He and the rest quickly leave the ship. Once outside, he takes a look around and sees nothing but destroyed buildings and fleeing crowds.
"Robin, are tornadoes common in New England?" Aqualad asks, only to receive no response. Samael turns to only to find the Boy Wonder has left them. "Robin?" Samael heard the sound of his cackle and managed to get a rough idea of where his friend was.
"H-He was just here." Miss Martian mutters in confusion. He saw a Tornado appear just next to the Power Plant.
Samael quickly sped over to the Power Plant just in time to catch a flying Grayson. "Thanks." Robin nodded.
Inside the Power Plant was a man in a red and black exo-suit, with blue tubing running from his shoulders up and to his lower back, and a brown scarf covering his mouth. Tornado coming from each hand."Whoever designed that guy's suit needs to get fired. " He tells Robin.
Robin looks at me. "Yeah, that's for sure. Although it doesn't compare to Condiment King." Samael cracked a smile at the mention of the man.
"Guy's tougher than I thought." Robin warned him. "Throw a smoke grenade at him, I'll go in for a punch." The boy nods and quickly throws one at Mr Twister. The villain vanishes the smoke, but he took advantage of the man's distracted state and threw an uppercut, lifting the machine off its feet.
Samael threw a jab at the exposed stomach area, sending the villain against the wall. The villain quickly got up, his suit bent in the stomach area, and sent a blast at them. He dodged only to get hit by another one, sending him flying into the wall.
He saw Kid Flash attack the robot with multiple attacks, which didn't seem to faze the villain at all.
Unamused, Twister turns back in time to create twisters under a flying Miss Martian and a charging Aqualad, knocking both of them back and eliciting a yell.
Aqualad hits a corner of one of the support beams, while Miss Martian narrowly misses and crashes into the raised grated walkway another ten feet behind the Boy Wonder.
Twister grabs Robin by the arm, and Samael, using his super-speed, punches the android's arm from the elbow, ripping it off the arm. He was, however, unprepared for the unexpected punch to the head and let go of Twister, and sending him to the ground.
"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero." Twister taunts as Robin pulls a disk out from under his jacket. "I was not, however, expecting children."
"We're not children!" Robin yells, launching a small bomb and then the disk.
Twister counteracts the bomb with dual vortices, causing it to explode at a harmless distance.
Mr Twister casually flicks the blast away with one finger. "Objectively, you are." Samael got off the ground and ran at the man. "Have you no adult supervision? I find your pres-."
Samael punched him in the shoulder, destroying the right side of the machine completely.
Aqualad throws a wave of electrified water at the exposed wiring on the android. "AHHH!" Twister screamed in pain. Miss Martian held the machine in place, which gave Samael the perfect opening.
He punched the machine with all he had, which produced a sonic boom. Kid Flash ran at the downed machine only to get a Tornado sent at the speedster.
Miss Martian used her telekinesis to catch Kid Flash just in time.
She sets down Kid Flash, who straightens out of his balled-up position, eyes opening. "Oh my God." Kid Flash sighed in relief. "Thanks."
"I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now." Twister continues taunting them. Considering the android's current state, he would've thought the Twister would stop underestimating them at this point.
"What do you want?!" Robin yells angrily at the villain, who rises into the air. "Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real Hero." Twister says. This seemed to anger the rest of his teammates, while Samael couldn't care less about the android's opinion.
"Read his mind, find his weakness." Aqualad commands Miss Martian.
"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that." Miss Martian said, slightly hesitant and equally confused. "It's okay with the bad guys," Robin tells her.
Miss Martian's eyes glow green. "I'm getting nothing." Then she breaks her concentration, knocking her head lightly. "Hello, Megan. Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise."
"He's inorganic, an android." Aqualad turns to M'gann. "And how many androids do you know that generate tornadoes?" Now, both Robin and Kid Flash turn towards her as well.
Should I tell them that it isn't Red? No, this could give me an opportunity to get her on my side and make her trust me more. "Red Tornado sent us here." Aqualad points out with a frown.
"After saying we'd be 'tested soon enough. " Robin agrees and continues. "This is his test, something to keep us busy."
"Speedy called it." Kid Flash said, then hangs his head. "We're a joke."
"Are you guys being for real?" Samael looks at his teammates as though they were stupid.
"What do you mean?"Kid Flash says, a frown on his face. "Do you think Red Tornado is going to test us by destroying the town, putting innocent people in danger, all for a test? You think the League would allow this?" Samael looked at Robin.
"If you can't see the flaw in that logic, then you haven't been listening to Batman's teaching. Because the man would debunk this in seconds." He told the boy wonder.
Robin looked ashamed; the idea that Twister was Red Tornado seemed to him now. The others also seemed to realize that the idea was stupid now that they gave it more than two seconds of thought.
"Alright, then what's the plan?" Kid Flash said. Samael looked to Aqualad and then at the rest. "Easy, Twister is underestimating us, and wants to obviously fight Red Tornado. I say, we give him what we want." They looked confused and a bit angry at what he said.
"What I mean is, Miss Martian can turn into Red Tornado, and with that, we can trick Twister. Make it seem like Tornado is sending us away, and when the man lowers his guard, we'll attack him." It might have been the same plan as in canon, but it worked.
"But, I'm not even good at turning into a boy, how can I turn into Red Tornado?" Miss Martian said worriedly, looking at them.
"Well then, you need to make it work." Samael tells her seriously, before turning to the others. "The rest of us need to continue distracting Twister to make sure he doesn't suspect anything."
Just as they were about to go, Samael turned to Miss Martian. "Set up a mental link, it's better to hear each other's thoughts." She nodded, and soon he felt something in his mind.
'Can you guys hear me?" Miss Martian's voice resounded in his head.
'What the hell, M'gann? You're in our head?' Robin spoke, his voice angry.
'Listen, now isn't the time to bicker. Stick to the plan.' Samael told them, quickly catching up with the rest of them.
The town of Happy Harbor was a mess, buildings and cars destroyed. And in the center was Mr Twister. Twister sends out more tornadoes, destroying more buildings in the process. "This will get the required attention."
"You've got ours!" Kid Flash shouts, gaining Twister's attention. "Full and undivided!" The speedster rips down the road, hitting Twister hard enough to stagger the android. "Immaterial and insufficient!" Twister proclaims. "You are a distraction I can no longer tolerate."
Before he can act, Samael jumps up and smashes down onto the unsuspecting villain, sinking him into the ground. Twister sends an air blast directly at his side, making him fly into a store.
Just as he was about to attack again Miss Martians spoke. 'I'm ready.' Samael looked at the others and subtly nodded.
Miss Martian descends as Red Tornado just out of Twister's range. The villain stops as he sees Tornado. "Hit the showers, boys." She says, her voice as monotone as Red Tornado's. "I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly, you cannot."
"But we've got a plan now." Robin objects with a frown. "The subject is not up for debate." Tornado tells them. He and the rest quickly walk away, getting into position.
"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up." Twister mocks Tornado. "I'm here now." Tornado says, his right hand reaching out beyond his cape to create a twister he sends right at Twister.
Twister counteracts it, but as Tornado attempts to attack him with his back turned, Twister sends another at the Leaguer.
Red Tornado disperses the attack before any damage can be done. "We are evenly matched, Twister." Tornado says, using both hands to create a tornado behind him to throw at Twister.
"No, Tornado, we are not." Twister emphasizes his point with a punch that blocks the rubble with a wall made of air before shooting lightning at the Leaguer.
Red Tornado dodges and takes flight, guiding the lightning to one of the crashed boats, which explodes into him, knocking him to the ground as he sparks.
Twister lands beside him. "Remain still, android." His left hands fingertips turn into connectors, which fall around the back of Red Tornado's head and neck. "The reprogramming won't take long."
Tornado grabs the wires, turning his head towards Twister before turning into Miss Martian's head head. "Longer than you might think." Red Tornado's voice was gone and in its place was Miss Martian's.
"No." Twister gaps, then Miss Martian launches him back with her telekinesis, ripping out the wires from his hand. Into an oncoming twister, which catches the villain and sends him over her head. As it comes to a stop, Kid Flash was the one creating it by spinning.
Samael then leaps, slamming the villain into the ground, and rips off the remaing arm. Then he kicks him near the Harbor, and Aqualad summons a jet of water into Twister and impales the villain, electrocuting the android.
The explosion brings him back to the surface. Miss Martian uses her telepathy to bring him up and throw him onto the ground as Robin throws exploding disks, which causes Twister to go on his knees.
'Megan, open the suit up.' Samael told her. He sensed her confusion, but did as he told her.
The chest panel opens, revealing a man, about forty years old, with medium-length brown hair in a green and white suit. He falls out of the exo-suit and to the ground. "Foul. I﹘ I call foul." He stutters in fright.
Samael uses his X-ray vision and sees that the man is actually a real android. He grabbed the man by the collar. "Who sent you?" He glared at the machine.
The man sputtered, avoiding his question. "A—Ah, nobody s—sent me. I—I just wanted." Samael grabbed the man by the neck and ripped off his head.
He felt his friends standing behind him stunned before Robin stepped up. "How did you know he was an android?" Robin says.
Turning towards the kid, he explains. "I just used my X-ray vision; the man wasn't human the entire time."
Wally steps up and grabs one of the eyeballs. "Cool. Souvenir." He throws it into the air, only for Samael to catch it and crush it in his hand.
"Hey, what gives?" He looks at Samael angrily. " Oh my God." Samael sighs.
"You wanted to bring a robot's eye into our base, why'd you think I did it?" Wally rubs his head sheepishly. Samael looks at the surrounding damage and rubs his head in frustration.
"We're gonna have to clean this up, won't we." He asks Wally. "Yep." The speedster was just as enthusiastic as him.
[Mount Justice, five hours later]
He was finally back, and wasn't that a blessing. Clean up was the worst part of being a superhero, that was for sure.
Kaldur was telling Red Tornado about the incident. "The suit was either created to sabotage or destroy you." Kaldur tells the Robot.
"Agreed." Red Tornado says, looking over the pieces of the android.
"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" Megan questions.
"No. This was your battle." Tornado says simply. "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, only for Tornado to cut her off. "Consider this matter closed." Red Tornado states, then walks off.
"Batman, Aquaman, Flash, they'd all have jumped right in to fix things." Wally comments as they all stand to watch him go further into the mountain. "Guess if we're going to have a babysitter, a heartless machine is exactly what we need." Robin says.
"Dude! Harsh." Wally hisses but doesn't object.
"And inaccurate." both boys stop dead. "I have a heart, carbon steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing." Robin forces out a nervous chuckle. "Right. I'll strive to be... more accurate."
Kaldur grabs Robin's shoulder and brings the Boy Wonder's attention to him. "And more respectful."
"Speedy was so wrong." Wally says happily. "This Team thing..." Kaldur finishes. "Might just work out."
Samael smiled at the trio, but internally, he was thinking. 'I'm weak.' He thought. 'I should have had that handled easily, but I'm still untrained and weaker than Superman ever was at my age. Although there are ways to gain strength faster, I just need the technology to get it. I'll think about this later, for now I want to relax.' Samael thought, walking with his friends to the common area.