(35) Humanity 2

Robin finally made it back to the Bioship, an invisible Danny floating behind him. Kid Flash, fully suited up outside of his cast, was waiting for him. Silently he watched Robin get on, eyeing the bag but thankfully saying nothing on it. Everybody got comfortable, well everybody except Danny as Bioship hadn't created an extra chair for him. He was pretty sure that meant she was keeping to the secret. He softly placed a hand on the side of the pathway he was hovering around, feeling a small tendril loop around his hand before disappearing.

While he figured it was pretty odd to be traveling inside another living being, it was equal parts cool too.

M'gann steered Bioship out of a different exit than they knew Captain Marvel was waiting at with Wolf. She announced they were entering camouflage mode, even though from the inside everything still looked the exact same. They had made it out quite some distance before Black Canary radioed in to ask what they were doing.

Clearly nobody had told M'gann to lie as the Martian immediately said they were kidnapping Zatanna. Luckily, after Kaldur sent her a look, she corrected herself to claim they were just showing her Happy Harbor. By some miracle, Canary bought the excuse.

"Where are we going?" Robin grumbled out loud. "Batman is the world's greatest detective and he's searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical location." He kept musing. Danny felt a little bad. This whole Tornado thing seemed like a big deal and he couldn't help but blame himself for the delays. If he hadn't been such a bother to Dick, maybe he could have helped Batman with the detectiving and found the bad guys already.

"If we're gonna do better, we need an illogical solution." Slowly a grin formed on Robin's face as he turned to face Kid Flash, the rest of the team following suit. Totally oblivious to the mental struggle his brother was going through. "A, a truly dumb idea." He added just so his best friend would know he was talking about him.

Kid Flash took it all in stride however as he proudly puffed out his chest. "As a matter of fact. There is one person who might know where Morrow is."

"Wally just spit it out already." Artemis complained.

Wally pouted slightly but kept going. "Who else would have an interest as to where Morrow is other than his biggest rival."

"Ivo! But he's in Belle Rêve. There is no way we can just slide inside like last time." Robin stared out in front of him. He knew Danny was down the pathway somewhere. Maybe they should have thought about this a bit more before dragging him on a mission back to one of the top 3 places his brother would rather not go back to. Perhaps there was some other way they didn't think of, a way to get T. O. Morrow without paying the penitentiary a visit.

"Warden Strange does owe us a favor for stopping the break out. Perhaps we can strike a bargain for our previous assistance." Kaldur mused. Of course, he was right. Strange did owe them, but there was something shifty about the man that none of them liked either. It was a gamble but one worth taking if it meant a chance to find Red Tornado.

Robin sighed softly, sending a silent apology to Danny before he turned back around to watch the landscape ahead of them. "To Belle Rêve it is, then. M'gann, stay in camouflage mode and stay a bit outside of the inner walls. Wouldn't want them thinking we're coming in for an attack." It sounded logical, but it was all a lie. The guards wouldn't attack, they're more than used to random visits from Batman so with him there it would be fine. No. He just didn't want Danny to be too close to that place again. Even if it was just a few yards it was better than being inside.

The flight over to the penitentiary didn't take too long. Danny wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Being there faster meant he had less time to freak himself out. But it also meant less time to mentally prepare to see those walls again. All too soon the entire group of teens, minus Danny, had departed the ship and made their way inside.

"Soooo..." Danny dragged out as he let himself become visible and walk around the font part for the first time. "What do we do now?" He looked around, the main steering seat did seem pretty inviting to try out but Danny didn't want to be rude and overstep more than he already had.

Still, trying to find something to distract himself with, he kept rambling. "I would love to ask so many questions but I'm not a telepath so I'm not sure how-" Suddenly, the floor spacing underneath Danny moved and formed into a little plush seat. Danny yelped out in surprise before he sat down.

Up on what he figured was just the cockpit window, a few displays came up as the lights inside dimmed. Danny stared in awe as Bioship showed renditions of space along with some supportive imagery. "Is this...Your home?" Pictures from Mars taken by the Rover were displayed all around while Bioship morphed part of the front panels and chairs into the terrain of Mars' surface. Everything around him except for the main steering seat and his oddly comfortable plush seat morphed as Bioship showed him what Mars looked like from the perspective of a native.

Martian Manhunter hadn't told the public a lot about what life on Mars was like, so Danny couldn't help but feel amazed as he got a virtual tour. The best, and most unexpected part, was when she morphed everything around him like he was the one flying around. They entered some type of cave system, past some lava rivers and deeper into what had just seemed like an inconspicuous mountain. The space started to open up and in the distance Danny could see the outskirts of an absolutely gigantic city.

Before they could go any further, an alarm went off on the spare glove his brother had given him. "Oh. Thank you, for showing me I mean. It was amazing." He breathed, slightly sad to watch everything morph back to what it was before. With some assistance from Bioship pushing the seat up, Danny floated back up and let invisibility wash over him again before the team got back. Danny hid near the ceiling of the entry hatch, figuring that was the best spot until both his brother and Zatanna glanced up as they passed him.

He really couldn't hide from either of them, could he?

"Set course for Yellowstone National Park. Lock out all external communication." Aqualad ordered as soon as everybody got inside. Everybody immediately took in the same seats as before again as M'gann flew away in an instant. "Soon Canary and Zatara, Batman too, I imagine, will know of our visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."

Oh well isn't that just perfect? Like he didn't have to worry about the sorcerer on the mission with him and the angry one awaiting their return. Now he also got to worry about an angry Batman waiting for them to get back. How absolutely amazing this double kidnapping was going.

"Look," Robin addressed Zatanna, pulling Danny out of the spiral he was threating to go down in again. "I'm trying to be all nonchalant here."

"Why? Be as chalant as you like." Oh, oh no. Danny could tell from that little smile and the lack of continuing the speech he probably had prepared, that his brother was going to hang around her more if she ended up joining the team. Would Bioship have internal cameras to get every single embarrassing thing he does before they're both wiped from the earth by her father?

"We're all just trying to get a handle on your powers." Artemis picked up where Robin had clearly just left off and wasn't continuing himself any time soon. "Could you teleport us to Tornado? Or Morrow to a cell? Or force his bots to surrender?"

Zatanna laughed a little. "Or create peace on Earth for all time? Zatara couldn't even do all that and I'm nowhere near on my dad's level." Oh, that was actually pretty comforting. Maybe not when they need some strong spells in a pinch but at least she isn't an active threat against his existence. Outside of her telling people who could be an active threat.

Small mercies.

"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 make the impossible happen at will." Maybe she should meet Cujo and have him teach her the ways of making the impossible happen, Danny thought jokingly.

"Who's Cujo?" Zatanna asked, causing both Robin and Danny to freeze up. Danny placed a steadying hand on Bioship, trying to keep his breathing under control so Superboy's hearing wouldn't pick up on it. Meanwhile Robin was fighting against intense stress. Not even he had noticed the mind link was up, or that Zatanna had been included. He tried hard to answer, stammering through half a word before Superboy interrupted him.

"What's our E.T.A. To Yellowstone? I'm way past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor." For once, Robin was glad for the clone's short temper. He didn't even mind the interruption as it distracted everybody from the mess up. Everybody except for Zatanna of course. The magician in training looked over Robin before sending a small glance over to where Danny was floating.

Of course she knew. Because why wouldn't she? It's not like she hadn't known something was up the literal first second she arrived.

The rest of the flight was spent in silence. Both twins couldn't help but feel unease. Both at Zatanna making it more and more clear she knows something is up, and the fear the others might find out. But they couldn't talk, not where everybody could hear them.

Before too long, M'gann was landing the Bioship already. Everybody got ready to depart, turning on their stealth mode at Aqualad's command. "I recommend you stay behind." He commented to Zatanna. Danny had half the mind to stay behind as well but knowing they were walking into a fight with at least one rogue robot, his mind was made up.

"Is that an order?" The girl smirked defiantly at the team leader.

Kaldur remained calm, smiling back at her. "No. You must do as you see fit."

Zatanna's smirk grew. "Good. Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool." A grey smoke surrounded her body and before their very eyes her casual outfit got changed into one similar to her father's. The rest of the team went ahead, Zatanna falling behind with Robin. "So."

Robin tried to remain calm, pulling out one of his classic Richard Grayson smiles he had to practice for the media. "So?" Danny rolled his eyes, he just really wanted this over with without letting the others know something was up.

"Who's your guardian angel?"

With the grace of a newborn giraffe, Robin nearly tripped over air. Danny really didn't have an excuse for him anymore. He could see the question coming from a mile away. Not letting him face plant however, Danny picked him up slightly until he got his bearing again.

"You're not going to laugh if I tell you, are you?" You won't let the others know, right?

Zatanna smiled softly at the distressed bird. "I don't see a reason why I would."

Robin allowed himself a small smile too, feeling a bit more at ease. "What about your dad, though? I'm not sure if his beliefs would approve of something so...different."

Zatanna kept smiling, looking just behind Robin where Danny was following behind. "My dad and I don't always agree on things like that. What he doesn't know won't hurt him." She shrugged before adding with a smirk. "I do want to meet them, though. If they don't mind."

"I-"

"Robin!" Aqualad called out to him, urging Robin to take lead and guide the team to the clearing Ivo had told them about. He pulled up a satellite image on his hologlove and looked into the readings coming from the area. A few too many readings were way higher than they should have been inside a nature reserve. "Ivo was right. Something is down there."

Aqualad took the lead again, charging head on into the clearing. The moment all of them had made it past the tree line, strong gusts of wind started to surround them. Red Tornado had started an attack against the team. Danny wanted to help but he didn't know how without revealing he was there.

The gusts of wind became too strong for the team to withstand, forcing them to lose their footing as they got blown back. Danny immediately flew to catch Robin, at least able to break his fall so he wouldn't get injured. With only his hands tangible, nobody was any the wiser as Robin's cape still flapped wildly against the rushing winds.

"Why, Tornado?!" M'gann yelled out, "why are you doing this?!" The team was quickly surrounded by a multitude of twisters as Tornado caged them inside. One of the tornados right next to the android was acting a bit strangely, less stable than the others looked. Upon further inspection, Danny could see it wrote something in the sand.

"Message received?" M'gann asked telepathically as everybody voiced their agreement to play along with whatever the rogue Leaguer had planned. Danny watched on as both Superboy and Aqualad went in for a combined attack, only for Aqualad to get punched and thrown back straight into Superboy.

The next to try something were Robin and Artemis. They each fired out their own projectile, only for Tornado to easily counter it. With a small flick of the wrist, he summoned a strong enough rush of air to send the arrows and batarangs straight back at them. "Look out!" Robin cried out as Danny had to let him stay just on the edge of the blast radius so their knock out would look believable.

"That does it, Red. You're not the only spin doctor around here." Kid Flash started rapidly spinning around, creating a funnel on his own. M'gann, who has been trying to go in for a sneak attack from behind, got quickly grabbed and thrown straight into Kid Flash, also knocking him out.

Danny knew they were all pretending but he couldn't help but feel worried as he watched Zatanna rush towards the middle of the fallen teens, effectively putting herself between the android and himself.

Against his better judgement, he flew up next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Even if Tornado was clearly not trying to actually injure them, none of the others' falls seemed painless. At least he could let her know she wasn't having to do this alone.

Danny felt her muscles tense for just a second before she relaxed again and kept up the act. "Etaerc a...a...dleihs dnuora ym-" Her incantation was cut short as Red Tornado had flown down to grab her by the throat. Lifting her up slightly with Danny's invisible support, Zatanna started to fake blacking out. Right as her eyes started to fall shut, Red Tornado threw her down to the ground.

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