Chereads / DC: Jackie Chan Adventures / Chapter 7 - The Team

Chapter 7 - The Team

July 4, 2010

Alex got woken up by Dick Grayson, who was excited because today's the day for him to become a part of the Justice League. After getting everything ready, an alarm went off, upsetting Dick."

"This better not interfere today of all days." Dick, dressed as a Robin, says

"Robin, let's go, Mr. Freeze, attack a park," Batman tells him.

"Have fun and good luck today, Dick," I tell them.

"See you, Alex!" Robin shouts as they leave in the batmobile.

After living with Bruce and Dick for four months, Alex has adjusted to living with them, and after all the help he's gotten, Alex has learned to deal with his emotions and has been enjoying life with continued therapy and meditation. Going upstairs, Alex goes to the living room and turns on the news, seeing that Batman and Robin are fighting Mr. Freeze and seeing Robin knock down the villain, and then Batman comes in, breaking Freeze's helmet, putting an end to his attack. After that, Alex spent the rest of the day relaxing and helping Alfred with anything he needed, and he got rewarded with the best lasagna with homemade garlic bread. Seeing neither of the others return, he went to bed.

The next day he's told what happened by Dick, how the Justice League has a hidden satellite base, and how they went on a mission behind the league's back, found and rescued a clone of Superman named Super-Boy, and later brought down a mutated scientist that turned into a giant monster. Then they stood up to the league and told them they weren't here to play sidekicks; they were there to be heroes. Happy for him, Alex congratulated him, but he didn't point out how they got lucky to survive.

In the next few days, Batman asked to speak to me in the cave and asked me if Alex wanted to join the team with Robin. Saying yes, Batman told me to meet up with Black Canary and go with her. She told me she was taking me to Mount Justice, the first headquarters of the Justice League, to make it fun during Batman's speech to the other team members. Alex turned invisible to surprise them by saying that he was joining.

July 8, 08:04 EDT Mount Justice.

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League." Batman tells them, "We're calling it into service again." Batman continues," Since you four are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on league terms." With only Batman speaking, it was amazing to see how he controlled the room as he continued to talk. "Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary is in charge of training. I will send you on missions."

"Real missions?" asked Robin.

"Yes, but covert," Batman tells them.

"The league will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason we have these targets on our chests." Speaks the Flash as he points at his symbol.

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter, and Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly," Aquaman tells them.

"The six of you will be that team," finishes Batman.

"Cool, Wait. Six?" Robin asked, confused.

"This is Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian." Points over to them, making their entrance at the Zata tubes.

"Hi," says Miss Martian.

I hear Kid Flash say he's liking this gig even more every minute, making me think he's a spoiled brat.

"And your last team member is Alex." Turning and pointing at me beside Black Canary, as I turn visible,"

"Hello!" I say to the team.

"Alex? "How long have you been there?" Robin asks, confused again, but then smiles.

As we group up, Kid Flash introduces himself to Miss Martian, completely ignoring Alex. Then, after an elbow to the ribs, he introduces Robin and Aqualad and makes a joke that she can forget their names.

"I'm honored to be included," she replies, obviously uncomfortable with Kid Flash being too close, so she steps back.

"Hey, Superboy, Alex, Come meet Miss M," Robin tells us. Coming over to say hello, Miss Martian turns to Superboy and tells him she likes his shirt. She changes her clothes to match his, and seeing the smile on his face, it was a good idea.

Alex was getting annoyed with Kid Flash, saying, "You need to stop being a pig," and he 'accidentally' turned him into a pig when he put his hand on his shoulder.

shock the team and then laugh at Kid Flash as Alex says sorry, turning him back. With Aqualad saying, " Today is the day" to us all.

At Cadmus Labs, a meeting was taking place.

With Guardian speaking, saying no more G-gnomes and no more secret breeding projects. Wanting to make Cadmus a kinder and gentler place. With Dubbilex agreeing to help him in any way.

The others, spying on the meeting, start to talk.

"Can the light afford to leave the Guardian in charge without the G-gnomes?"

"We have subtler means of control." "What concerns me is the children."

"We now know the league is willing to employ young heroes to do their dirty work."

"That's a dark twist."

"Yes, but one that can be played to our advantage." "Even the temporary loss of the weapon may prove useful." "Eventually, everyone sees the light." With that, the meeting of mysterious people ended.

After Batman's introduction, everyone went their separate ways, leaving Alex, Superboy, and Miss Martian at the cave to pick their rooms. After picking our rooms, with Superboy picking a closet,Alex and Miss Martian picked a room. After that, Miss Martian and Alex left the cave; she went with her uncle, and Alex went back to Gotham to get his stuff to move in later. When he returned to the cave, Red Tornado was talking to Superboy, and he had a G-gnome in his hand.

"I'll have this G-gnome returned to Cadmus," he says, leaving through a Zeta tube.

"What happened?" Alex asked Miss Martian and Superboy.

"Weird telepathic stuff," huffs Superboy, turning around and leaving with Miss Martian going after him. Thinking nothing of it, Alex went to his room to set up. He unpacked his stuff. He hangs Tarakudo's mask up on his wall. And in his closet, he put his old demon snake armor along with five sets of his new hero uniform and matching white domino masks to cover his identity. (image here) and whether he's in uniform or not, he'll be concealing his dagger at all times. And secretly, Alex asked Batman to install a tracking device in it so if he lost it, he could find it, or Batman could find him. After putting everything away, Alex went out to see what the others were doing and saw them watching TV in the lounge.

"What are you watching?" I asked them

"Oh, a cooking show; I've wanted to learn how to cook ever since I got here." Miss Martian

"Nice; it's good to keep busy, and cooking is a great way to make friends, "I tell her.

"That's what I'm hoping for. "Being from Mars, everything I know about Earth comes from TV shows broadcast there." She told me excitedly.

"What about you, Superboy? What do you want to learn? Anything new?" I asked him

"Nothing," he replies, getting up and walking away.

"Did I say something wrong?" I ask Miss Martian:

"I don't know. He's been very upset and leaves whenever I try to talk to him," she tells me.

"Ok, see you later." Alex left to explore the base and find the grotto a tranquil place, and Alex decided to meditate there. Sitting down and getting relaxed, he started chanting, "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao."

Mount Justice, July 18, 11:16 EDT

Dick and Kid Flash came into the cave in civilian clothes as Alex, Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian watched a screen, waiting for Red Tornado to come to the cave.

"Did you ask him? What did he say?" Dick asked

"He's arriving now, "Aqualad tells him."

"Then let's go, "Dick tells us as we make our way to the front door.

When we got there, Red Tornado asked us what the reason was for greeting him at the front door, and we all asked for a mission to do, and he told us that Batman was responsible for missions and walked past us, telling us to use this time to bond and socialize or keep busy and explore the cave. Dick gets upset, and Miss Martian says she'll find out.

"Miss Martian, Red Tornado is a robot." pointing that out to her, she gets embarrassed.

"Oh, I forgot about that," she tells us.

"It's ok, babe. Can you read my mind by giving her a look?" Kid Flash asks her, and Dick elbows him in the ribs, saying "We all know what you're thinking." Alex walked over to him, and, putting my arm around his shoulder, he told him "That's enough, Kid Flash. Why don't we show you all around? Superboy, me, and Miss Martian live here full-time and know the place." Alex asked them as he used his strength to hold onto Kid, dragging him along with him into the cave. "Ow, dude, let go!" Kid Flash complained. "When you learn some manners, then I won't have to do this to you. Now, Miss Martian, do you want to take the lead and tell everyone about the cave?" "Ah yes, so this is the front door." We start going all around the cave, and Kid Flash explains that Superman and Green Lantern hollowed it out. and how it was abandoned after an attack from villains, "Then don't we have to be on guard for an attack?" She asked worriedly. "No, no, it's like an open secret. We know the villain knows about the cave, but they think it's abandoned, so in theory, we're hiding in plain sight." Robin tells her, easing her worry. "Don't worry, babe, I'm ill..."Before Wally can finish, I tell him. "Shut up" and turn to Miss Martain. "We are protected here by the security system, and their Red Tornado here can protect us, and if that fails, we can work together to defend ourselves." Alex tells her, turning back to Kid Flash, "Behave, or I'll remove you from the cave and tell Batman you're not ready to be part of the team because I won't be on the team with a loose cannon like you, who thinks it's ok to harass a girl; you got that." I tell Wally in private not to embarrass him in front of the others who walked away. "Yes, yes, I got it to stop being overbearing. I'm sorry, can you please stop doing that?" Wally complains. "Then grow up and act like a hero, not a stupid kid." I tell him, walking to the others.

"Do guys smell something burning?" asked Superboy.

"Oh no, my cookies," says Miss Martian as she flies to the kitchen. "I was trying out Grammy Jones' recipe from episode 17 of... Uh, heh. Never mind."

"I bet they'd have tasted great," Dick tells her. "He doesn't seem to mind," Dick says, pointing at Kid Flash.

"I have a serious metabolism," he tells us with his mouth full.

"I'll make more." Miss Martian tells him, confused.

"It was sweet of you to make any," says Aqualad. "Thanks, Aqualad," she tells him.

"We're off-duty. Call me Kaldur' Ahm." Aqualad tells her. "Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."

"I'm Wally. See, I already trust you with my secret ID," he tells him, then points at Dick. "Unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here, Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name." I went behind Wally and hit him upside the head.

"I'm Alex Liu. When on duty, call me Akuma Kira (which means Demon Killer) or Akuma (Demon) for short." I tell her.

"Mine's no secret. It's M'gann M'orzz," she tells us. "But you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now." Seeing Superboy getting up to leave, she telepathically tells him they'll find a name for him.

"Get out of my head!" Superboy yells at her.

We all gasp as she speaks in our heads, wincing. 'What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.'

"M'gann, stop." Kaldur tells her.

"Yes, M'gann, this is not Mars here if it is unwanted. Your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy." I tell her.

"Besides, Cadmus' creepy little psychic G-Gnomes left a bad taste in his brain," Wally tells her.

"I didn't mean to..." before she could finish.

"Just stay out!" Superboy yells at her.

After a moment of silence, Alex tells M'gann. "It's ok, Megan; you're still new to the Earth, but don't use your power on anyone without permission, please, and only do it unannounced in an emergency, ok?"

"Ok, thank you for telling me." She says it sadly, but cheers up and says "Hello, Megan. I know what we can do." Then she flies away, and we follow, leaving Superboy; only Megan goes back for him and gets him to follow us. Coming to the hangar, Megan introduces the martian bio-ship.

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

"It's at rest, silly. I'll wake it up," she tells Wally.

The ship awakens and transforms into the flying ship, and she walks over, turns back, looks at us, and asks. "Well, are you coming?" We get in, and she tells us to strap in. We find it cool. "Red Tornado, can you please open the hanger doors?"

Flying out of the ship is very fast, and we complement the ship. Wally embarrassed himself by staring at Megan and saying, "She sure is... I mean, the ship, which, like all ships, is a she." completing her when we're all talking about the ship, and he can't backtrack.

"Fast with his feet..." Dick says, "Not so much with his mouth." He finishes, "Dude!" Wally complains.

After talking and joking a little, Magen shows off camouflage mode. "Making me yawn," seeing that Wally asks,"Dude, you don't find this cool?"

"Sorry, no, if you'd pay attention when Batman introduced me, I was invisible at the time, "I tell him.

"Oh, that reminds me, what are your powers?" Wally asked

"Dude, he has so many you'll cry. Ha ha ah." Dick replies for me.

Everyone was interested in my answer, but before I could tell them something, Red Tornado came onto the air. "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 the coordinates."

When we got there, we didn't see anything wrong with the building; when we were thinking, Superboy pointed and told us he thinks he knows why there's an emergency, and looking over, we saw a tornado come right at us. Getting out of the way and landing in a parking lot Getting to the ground, Aqualad asks, "Robin, are tornadoes common to New England? Robin?" but Robin disappeared, leaving behind laughter. "He was just here." Miss Martian said in confusion:

We quickly go after Robin in time to see him get knocked back and fall to the ground. Rushing in, we attacked the villain when Megan confused him with Red Tornado; he proclaimed himself Mr. Twister—confusing the team and getting us knocked down again. Mr. Twister flies into the sky, makes a hurricane, and sends lightning crashing at us. Superboy and Alex stand in front of the others to take the hit, sending everyone but Superboy back with it; they jump after Mr. Twister with Alex, follow a step behind, heal themselves, and fly up when Mr. Twister sends down giant bolts of lightning. Alex quickly strengthened himself and healed to take the hit, sending both of us to the ground in ditches. That's when Miss Martian covered us with the camouflaged bio-ship. Confusing Mr. Twister, and then him leaving a warning that he'll kill us if we interfere again. He then flew away.

When we all get up and ask what happened, Miss Martian tells us, and then Conner yells at her for saying that it was Red Tornado, and Robin and Kid Flash ask her to take a break and return. Aqualad and Alex defend her, saying she made a mistake before leaving. Alex tells her it'll be fine. Everyone makes mistakes, but what we do afterward is what counts.

Getting to the town, Mr. Twister is attacking. Kid Flash rushes in and does a flying two-heel kick, hitting Mr. Twister, but all it does is upset him. He was knocking Superboy and Aqualad into a building. Alex flies in and gives Mr. Twister a right hook, pushing him back, but he returns the favor and sends him into the nearby water. When he had everyone pinned down, Miss Martian came back and talked to us telepathically and explained the plan she had when we grouped up. 'Red Tornado' came down and told us to back down, and he'll handle it. He started to fight Mr. Twister and ended up losing. When Mr. Twister tries to hack 'Red Tornado," Miss Martian reveals it is her and knocks him back into Kid Flash, appearing and sending him flying in his own tiny Twister. Then Superboy catches him and starts putting holes in him and tossing him up to me, and I fly down and hit him into the water, where Aqualad uses an anchor to break off one of Mr. Twister's arms and send him to the surface to face Robin's exploding birderangs. With that, Miss Martian sends him up and crashing down with telekinesis, stopping Mr. Twister.

When the chest area of Mr. Twister opens, a man falls out, saying that's not fair when Miss Martian sends a rock crashing into him—shocking us all and confronting her. But when she revealed that it was a robot, we were shocked again. Miss Martian explained that there was no mind to connect to, so she knew it was a robot.

"Cool, souvenir," Wally says, picking up one of the eyes of the robot.

"Good job," Alex tells her, and the rest tell her we're glad she's on the team.

Elsewhere, a scientist asks if another person is glad he didn't wear the armor and is happy because this means the real Red Tornado was around the area, and even in failure, it can be instructive.

Back at the cave, we're looking over the robot parts, and Kuldur says "It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you."

"Agreed," Red Tornado replies.

"Is that why you didn't help when I called you?" 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," he tells us.

"But if you're in danger..." Meghan says

"Consider this matter closed," Red Tornado tells her, walking away.

After making a nasty comment about Red Tornado, Robin apologizes, as Red has excellent hearing and heard him tell him he does have a heart of carbon-steel alloy. Robin says he'll strive to be more accurate, and Kuldur adds that being more respectful

After a minute, Wally says, "Speedy was so wrong."

"This team thing?" Dick says

"It might just work out." Kuldur Finishes.

Then Superboy tells Megan: Sorry.

When everyone leaves and Alex is walking down the hall, Red Tornado appears and asks," Why did you hold back and have the fight last so long?" He asks,"From what Batman has told me, you have the same potential as Miss Martian."

"Just like you, if I solved the problem, we wouldn't work as a team, and this would all fall apart." Alex tells him. "We needed to work as a team and trust each other. Now we do and can work together and not get themselves killed on future missions." Alex tells him and goes to his room.