Chapter 36: welcome to happy habor iii

Inside the building, Robin was knocked into a wall by a gust of wind. The wind came from a robot or someone in an armored mech-suit. The suit was red with black highlights, about ten feet tall, with oversized hands and a brown, ragged scarf wrapped around its neck and lower jaw. Large blue cables were attached to its arms, ending at a large, backpack-like device on its back.

The others then entered the building and saw their newest adversary. Superboy came over and helped Robin up.

"Who's your new friend?" Superboy asked.

"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kind of rough," Robin replied.

"My apologies," said the armored villain in a synthesized voice. "You may address me as Mister Twister."

Toneri, leaning on the doorway crossing his arm on his chest, observed the scene. 'He's the one manipulating the wind. Intriguing.'

Superboy charged at the villain, but Twister created two tornados that stopped him in his tracks. Toneri thought, 'Poor approach, moving to engage without a strategy.' The tornados blew the clone right into a wall. The others made their attack next. Wally rushed with speed and attempted to jump kick him. Toneri mused, 'That would have worked if you were faster than it could react, but unfortunately, you are slow.' Twister easily stopped him with his wind manipulation, sending Wally flying outside.

Toneri began to evaluate the team. 'Robin relies on gadgets and quick thinking; he needs to strategize more effectively. Superboy has raw power but lacks finesse. Wally has speed but not the necessary reaction time. M'gann has potential with her telepathy and telekinesis but lacks combat experience. Kaldur shows promise with his leadership and adaptability. If they coordinated their abilities, they could take down this weak excuse for a villain. Oh well, let's see how they keep on, shall we?'

Kaldur and M'gann tried to attack Twister next, but just like before, he sent them flying right into the wall.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not prepared, however, to face children," Twister mocked.

"We're not children!" Robin said, throwing explosive disks at the armored villain. Twister used small tornados to redirect the blast away before the disks detonated. 'But you are young, Robin,' Toneri thought.

"Objectively, you are," Twister said, flicking one of the explosive disks before it detonated.

Robin threw more explosive disks at him but was blown aside before the explosion, just like before. They attacked Twister again, but with little success. When Miss Martian used her telekinesis on a machine and surrounded him in a cloud of smoke, Superboy jumped in for an attack but was blown back by a blast of wind right into the Martian. Kaldur and Robin then charged at the armored villain next, but he stopped them with small tornados he manipulated.

"Indeed, that was quite turbulent. Thank you," Twister said. Then he looked up and saw a pale-looking boy with milky white eyes—Toneri—looking down at him from the doorway.

"Why didn't you help them?" Twister asked.

"They need to learn a few things on their own. Me joining in would end it all too soon," Toneri replied.

Twister laughed. "You make it sound as if you can defeat me, boy."

Toneri looked at him without saying anything, his arms crossed. His silent confidence disturbed Twister, who floated up and made his way outside. Toneri thought, 'Of course, it's that easy.'

Wally got up from where he was thrown and saw Twister coming out before rushing and missing him.

"What did he do to our team?" Wally asked.

"Embarrassed them largely," Twister said before launching a large tornado at Wally. The latter got caught in the wind and was heading straight for a wall until M'gann caught him in time with her telekinesis and gently lowered him down.

"I got you, Wally," she said.

"Thanks," he replied.

"You again?" Twister said. "I would have thought you children would learn your limitations by now."

"What do you want?" Kaldur shouted at the armored villain.

"Isn't it obvious?" Twister said. "I am waiting for a real hero. Be good little kids and bring out the Justice League. I'm sure they will put up much more of a fight."

Kaldur turned to M'gann. "Read his mind! Find out if he has a weakness."

"I-I thought I wasn't supposed to do that!" she said.

"It's okay when it's the bad guys!" Robin said.

M'gann nodded, then focused on Twister. Her eyes glowed as she tried to read his mind. Except for one problem. "Nothing, I'm getting nothing!" she said before slapping herself on the forehead and smiling. "Hello, Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise!" Everyone stared at her, surprised. "Think about it, he's inorganic, an android! And how many androids do you know that can generate tornados?"

"Red Tornado sent us here."

"After saying we'd be tested soon enough," Robin barked. "This is his test! Something to keep us busy!"

"Speedy called it, we are a joke," Wally said.

Toneri, making his way to them, thought, 'Is she actually thinking he's Tornado? With all the damage done and lives endangered, she can't possibly think that just because she can't read its mind. They actually believe that? How pitiful.'

"This game is so over," Wally said as he, Robin, and Kaldur walked toward the android.

"We know who you are and what you want!" Robin called out.

"So let's end this!" Kaldur said.

"Consider it ended," Twister said in a menacing tone. He then raised his hands in the air, generating two tornados and hurling them up to the sky, beginning to create a large storm cloud above them.

"An impressive show, but we will not indulge you. We will not engage!" Kaldur called out to the android, still believing that this fight is not real. Suddenly, lightning began to form from the clouds behind the villain, surprising the young heroes. Toneri looked up and thought, 'Oh, now he can manipulate lightning as well? If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he's using chakra or another type of energy to manipulate the elements.'

"Um, can Red Tornado do that?" Wally asked in confusion.

"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic," Twister said before launching a lightning blast at them. The bolt hit the ground, causing an explosion and pushing them back.

Superboy got back up after getting hit by the blast, then jumped high right at Twister. But the android fired another bolt of lightning at the Kryptonian clone, causing him to fall back to the ground in pain. Twister was then moving closer to them with hands crackling with electricity, but before he was about to attack, the team suddenly disappeared in front of his eyes. Little did he know, M'gann had placed the bioship in camouflage mode between them, making it look like they had disappeared.