In camouflage mode, the BioShip flew over the empty space. "Block out all external communications," Kaldur commanded. "Soon, Canary and Zatara, Batman too, I imagine will know of our... visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."
"Look," Robin chuckled, trying to lighten the conversation a little. "I'm trying to be nonchalant here."
"Why?" Zatanna asked. "Be as chalant as you like."
Robin cracked a smile making that same feeling from before rise in Wanda. She didn't understand what it was but it made her sick. "I think we're all just trying to get a handle on your powers," Artemis informed. "Could you teleport us to Tornado or Morrow to a cell or force his bots to surrender?"
"Or create peace on Earth for all time?" Zatanna returned. "Zatara couldn't even do all that and I'm nowhere near on my dad's level." She turned very serious as she looked directly at Artemis. "I need to know a spell cold, or else have time to prep it. Plus, all magic requires energy which usually has to come from within. I can't just make the impossible happen at will."
"But Wanda's magic doesn't need that stuff," Wally stated, bringing Wanda's attention to the conversation.
"All real magic, anyways." She quickly slapped her hand over her mouth, realizing what she had just said. "N-Not that your magic isn't real-"
"It's okay," Wanda cut her off, giving her a gentle grin. "I get it. You were born with magic while mine was made in a lab."
She looked out the window as Robin leaned in to whisper something in Zatanna's ear. "She's one of Cadmus's experiments. It's not a touchy subject but she doesn't really like to talk about." He leaned back as she turned to look at Wanda, apologetically. She didn't really know why but what she had said kind of hurt her, making her remember that the thing that made her special wasn't even real.
"What's our ETA to Yellowstone?" Conner demanded angrily. "I'm way past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor."
"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Kaldur asked calmly.
"Aren't you?!"
"I am not convinced." Kaldur admitted. "And even so, that makes him but a victim of his creator's programming. Certainly, he deserves the chance to prove he's more than the weapon others designed him to be." Conner closed his eyes as he turned back towards the front of the BioShip, when he opened his eyes, the rage was gone. Old Faithful created a geyser as the camouflaged BioShip flew past it and laned in the trees. Aqualad was already standing when it touched down. "Stealth Mode." He hit his belt buckle. With a smile, Kid Flash taped his emblem with his cast. Artemis hit the center of her Arrow. The green of her costume darkened to the color of pine trees during the night while her bright green arrow was now a pale grey. Zatanna watched the transformation, intrigued. M'gann's clothes darkened to a fully black bodysuit, only the red X and the blue cape remaining. Zatanna opened the door and Aqualad approached her. "I recommend you stay behind."
"Is that an order?" Zatanna asked.
"No," Kaldur assured her quickly. "You must do as you see fit."
"Good." the girl began her chant and guides the bright blue magic smoke up her body. "Emit to yrt eht wen kool!" Now wearing a white button-up with an equally white bowtie, a pale yellow vest under a black twin-tailed suit coat, and white gloves all reminiscent of her father's costume, only she wearing silver tights, black short shorts and shin high boots that make the look her own. Wanda could feel him staring at her, deep down wishing that he looked at her the same way.
Robin and Aqualad approached a tall tree, closest to the open field area. Robin pulled up his HoloGlove, looking over the map. "Ivo's right. Something's down there."
Aqualad lead the charge, the rest of the Team following him, only to be stopped by harsh blowing winds that knock everyone, except Wanda, off their feet. Superboy squinted through the dust kicked up, his eyes went wide when he saw Red Tornado above them. Tornado uncrossed his arms creating a huge red twister, a second popped up next to it, and it continued until the Team was trapped between an ex-League level Hero and seven gigantic tornadoes. Wanda stood her ground trying to not let the wind sweep her off.
K-Wanda, go down. We have to make this as believable as possible.
She groaned as she let it hit her. "Why, Tornado?" Miss M shouted over the wind. "Why are you doing this?" His arms are once again crossed over his chest as more tornadoes cropped up between him and the Team.
M-Message received?
Superboy nodded before turning back to Tornado. "Who cares why? Nail him!" With that, he charged forward. Aqualad hesitated a moment before continuing.
"Superboy, maneuver seven!" His boots dragged as he spun into a quick stop, his fingers threaded together, landing in a solid horsestance and waited until the Atlantean's barefoot landed in his hands before he shot him high to the air with a battlecry from both of them.
Tornado looked like he was not going to move as Aqualad pulled back his fist, and then suddenly moved just enough for Aqualad's eyes to go wide before he was hit in the face by Tornado's punch. Superboy and Wanda got taken out as the three of them crashed together. Artemis stepped up with her bow in hand, grabbing two arrows which she shot at Tornado. Robin came to her side to back her up if needed. The arrows nearly made it to Tornado, before he stopped them dead, then pulled them into the tornado keeping him in the air. With no warning, they're shot back at Robin and Artemis.
"Look out!" Robin tried to warn but neither of them can get out of the way before they explode upon contact with the Earth.
"That does it Red!" Kid stood up from his crouch. "You're not the only spin doctor around here." He spun creating his own twister due to the speed of his whirling. Miss Martian tried to take advantage of Tornado's distraction, as she came at him from high and behind. Just as she went to throw a punch at Tornado he turned over his shoulder, avoiding her hit and grabbing her wrist, throwing her into Wally, causing both of them to hit the ground hard.
Zatanna was the only one left standing. "Etaerc a... a... dleihs dnuora ym-" her stuttered spell was cut off by Tornado's hand around her neck. He once again said nothing, before dropping her to the ground. Only then do all the other tornadoes disappear, while he remained high off the ground above them.
Volcano came up behind him. "Quite a performance, brother." The rock that was rising him continued to grow. "But we both know that's all it was." Off to the side, two words are visible PLAY DEAD. Volcano continued . "I have all your memories, Tornado, plus a next-gen processor. I know your next move before you do." His arms shot out and the pieces of Earth that Tornado's instructions were on broke away as Volcano rose it behind him. The Team slowly sat up, watching. He scoffed. "Blowing a message into the sand?" The message shattered and fell towards the Team with one move.
Wanda put a shield above them, to protect them from the falling rocks. "Scatter!" Aqualad called out.
Everyone moved from the shield as Wanda lowered it. "Zatanna?" Robin asked since he had to dodge as she yelped from beside him as the bolder crashed.
"I'm good," she assured. "but Red Tornado's getting away."
"Is he abandoning us?!" Artemis asked incredulously as she nocked another arrow.
"I don't believe that," Miss Martian defended.
KF ran up Volcano's pillar. "You stand no chance against me humans!" Volcano snarled as he hit Kid in the side with a harsh punch.
"We're not human!" Superboy and Miss M shouted, M'gann using her power to keep Superboy in the air as she flew towards the villain.
"Apologies, I suppose the properly inclusive term is-" two huge hands of Earth rose up and clapped together over the Alien members of the Team. "meatbags." Wanda used her hex bring down the pillar he was on, causing him to fall. "Trying to use my own element against me?" He shot lava at her as she put up a shield. "Big mistake." The lava continued to crash into her making it hard for her to focus. Luckily, KF swooped in and got her out of the situation. He swiped his right hand down and the Earth shattered. Dropping Aqualad and Artemis into a hole, they both screamed as they fell. Artemis was quick to use an arrow with a line to catch herself, swinging over to catch the leader before getting them out of the rift before it would've crushed them. Robin used the new ridge as a jumping off point before he threw a birdarang at Volcano. He caught it, expecting it, but it still explodes. Yet, as the smoke cleared he is unharmed. "Tornado's memory files and my superior processing speed allow me to anticipate your every move." Though steadily getting annoyed.
"Ekoms emoceb a dlofdnilb!" Zatanna enchanted, the deep black smoke around Volcano covering his eyes. Robin touched down and came up to Zatanna's side.
"Tornado never knew my moves," she said proudly.
"And I bet you've got some good ones." Robin's eyes went wide when he realized what he said, then looked to the slightly annoyed Zatanna. "Whoa. Sorry, that may have come off a little too Wally."
She chuckled. "I don't mind."
Wally had set Wanda down just a few feet away from them, making it able for them to hear the conversation. A part of her jolted, her hex glowing in her palms. Volcano's eyes glowed even brighter as the machinery inside him whirred into a new gear. As he shot almost laser-like beams into the sky, the SuperVolcano behind him erupted.
As that happened she took two parts of the earth using it to crush Volcano. When the dust cleared he was gone but when she turned he was standing right behind her. He hit her to the side, walking up to her as her teammates tried to take him down. "Tornado saw you as a threat, so why don't i take you out of the equation?" Volcano grabbed her hands rising her up just as the ground beneath him did. His eyes glowed red while his hot hands slightly burned hers. "Permanently."
Camouflaged, M'gann landed and pulled at Volcano's turned back causing his laser to cut his hand, releasing Wanda. She fell through the air barely conscious when Superboy caught her, setting her down next to Robin. "You alright?"
"Kind of wishing we felt the aster," Wanda mused. She winced as Robin pulled her up. They looked down at the burns on her hands, with Zatanna when she came up to them.
"Parw segadnab dnuora reh snrub." They watched as the bandages wrapped around her burns. Before she can thank her, she's already at Kid's side. "Ekoms dna srorrim. Etaerc Dik Hsalf snoisulli!" Zatanna enchanted, one hand on the crouching Kid's shoulder. The smoke from the lava turned into copies of KF, all them taking off within moments. "I-I use a scaled down version when I want to sneak out of the house," she said brightly.
"We have to get rid of the smoke before it spreads." He typed something into his holo glove, trying to figure out a plan. Wanda got in front of him putting up a force field around them as Volcano threw a gigantic magma rock at them.
"I can," she grunted as another one hit. "I can try and contain it. Buy us some time."
"It might work." Suddenly water bursted up on Aqualad's right, morphing into a stream which hit Red Volcano in the chest, knocking him into the lava behind him. "Nice hit!" Robin told Aqualad, but he wasn't looking at the youngest.
"The hit was not mine. Look!" Red Torpedo stood resolute, rising up on another pillar of water, sending two smaller streams at a still partially submerged Red Volcano. Covering the area in steam due to the temperature difference. From it rose a stone pillar, Volcano lying on top. Red Tornado flew in, taking out the pillar, dropping Red Volcano back into the magma.
While this was happening, Wanda used her hex, pulling the smoke together not letting it go into the atmosphere.
The Team could only watch in stunned silence. Fireballs rained down Red Volcano as he surfaced again. Red Inferno continued to use them until she got close enough to physically hit Red Volcano. She didn't hesitate to get into the waist-high magma, Red Volcano had a crushing grip on her hands, yet she pushed against him. "Sister, brother, stop!" Red Volcano shouted. Like a rocket Red Torpedo hit Red Volcano in the chest, taking all three of them into the magma fully. The two lighter Reds held him down by the neck and the left arm despite how they're already melting. Red Tornado flew silently over the lava, using his tornado as a buffer before he stood on Red Volcano's chest. Now all of them are melting away with the heat. "Father would be so disappointed," Red Volcano said before his eyes glowed brightly one more time and the machinery within him whirred low.
To be continued...