First Sub-skill Unlocked

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(Aden's P.O.V)

My fists slammed into Mister Twister and the momentum carried us off into the docks of the settlement near Mount Justice, The Happy Harbor town. Our trajectory spun us to the water. We skimmed above it, the water roiling behind us as I put my all into pushing him in. 

Mister Twister regained control over his limbs and a huge tornado appeared under him, sending the water erupting up into a wave that  headed for the docks. I looked over in concern that was quickly eased as I caught sight of Aqualad near the beach. 

The brief respite allowed Mister Twister to fly further away from me. 

"I will admit, child. You caught me off guard. Not anymore."

The wind picked up as even the clouds above swirled over us. His limbs sparked with electric energy and a beam of lightning appeared from above and slammed onto me. A hand came up and my impromptu wind shield, protected me, scattering the streaks of blue lightening to the sides. The shield held easily. 

I had access to air constructs now, perks of getting to Master level no doubt. The shield was a pale green color. I enlarged it to cover my body as Twister's signature Tornados besieged me from all sides. My bubble of wind held, swirling around not unlike the first time I went into the Avatar State.

"You love Tornados huh? Let's see how you like it standing on the receiving end."

I told the Android, my hands reached to the sides and forcefully took control of his Tornados.

"Impossible!"

I combined them into one and sent it over to him.

"Improbable maybe but not impossible."

The tornado slammed onto a dozen more he created while flying back. All I did was incorporate his attacks into mine. He tried to fly away from the scene but I unraveled the gigantic Tornado and pulled it close to me. 

The wind roared as it jumped to follow my orders, sending water spraying all around me. The sea under me churned as I pointed my hand out to the Android flying towards the settlement. 

Behind me, numerous pale green constructs of blades formed at my urging. My hand fell and the constructs shot forward at more than 300mph. They cut through the air leaving behind a hissing sound. 

The Android was eviscerated. Slashes cut through his metallic shell and his body sparked as the limbs detached and fell off. He lost control of his flight and smashed onto a warehouse. 

I pushed my hands to the side and the air and water calmed down. I flew forward and instantly found myself feeling the sensation of free movement in the air. The others were gathering at the place where the Android had crashed so I leaned my body forward and shot off towards them. I laughed in glee as I saw my reflection on the water. 

I touched the water, doing twists and turns and all too soon found myself arriving next to the team.

"Hey guys. I can fly now!"

I told them in excitement.

Robin snickered.

"Yeah we saw that. Though for a minute there you looked like a fish out of water."

Robin said referring to my inexperience with flying. I did the immature thing and stuck out my tongue at him. He laughed while approaching the limbless Android who was sparking.

"Man that was so cool."

Wally told me while patting me on the shoulder.

"You did a great job Maelstrom."

Aqualad added with the same soft smile we knew him for.

Miss Martian was the most excited.

"I am so happy. I have so much to teach you, now that I'm not the only one who can fly anymore!"

She flew over and hugged me. I patted her back awkwardly. Damn, M'gann was strong. Over her shoulder, I saw Superboy's face and instead of the jealousy I was expecting, he had a small smile on his face.

He noticed me and held up a thumbs up.  A little of the tension inside me eased out and I felt a genuine happiness. I wish I could thank my past self for deciding to talk to Superman.

"Guys, you need to see this."

Wally called us over and we all approached just as a slim middle aged man stumbled out of the remains of the wrecked Android.

"Foul I call foul."

"M'gann."

I told her.

"Got it."

A huge rock rose up and smashed on to the android.

"Wait!"

"No!"

The protests from the rest were ignored in favor of turning the Android into pieces of metal.

"Wait."

I held up a hand to stop Robin's aggressive statements.

"Look."

Miss Martian lifted the rock telekinetically, revealing the broken metal plates and parts of the android.

"Oh."

Wally muttered.

"Nice."

"We couldn't risk letting him get close to us. He might have had a contingency plan to blow himself up in our vicinity."

"How did you know?"

Robin fell back on his detective side.

" I asked Miss Martian to read his mind telepathically while we were fighting him but she couldn't. The only way that is possible is if Mister Twister was…"

"Inorganic."

Miss Martian Supplied.

"Right. But the simple answer? You guys didn't see it but his left foot was sparking due to damage. Last time I checked, a person bleeds with an injury like that."

Superboy noticed the red light from one of the Android's eyes and stomped on it. 

"I'm hungry."

He stated and left for Miss Martian's ship that had just arrived. Wally flashed over to M'gann's side while Aqualad left to stand a bit further from the rest of us. He brought a hand to his earpiece and gave Red Tornado status update on the mission.

"Hey beautiful. What do you say we go and make more of those awesome cookies?"

Wally said while winking.

Robin laughed.

"We? You're going to be eating more than baking."

"Dude! Come on!"

Aqualad and I watched their teasing and chuckled. Once we were all in the ship, M'gann took us back to the Cave. 

Batman found time out of his schedule to come to the debrief. He had us go over everything for one full hour before letting us leave. I stayed behind after the others had left to go have some cookies to talk the Dark Knight.

"Your abilities increased."

He commented, reviewing the report we had made on the Android. The league had gathered up it's parts and I was sure Batman would look closely into the perpetrator behind the whole thing. 

"I remembered something. There were other Android's apart from Red Tornado in one continuation."

He looked up from the data pad and narrowed his eyes.

"That's not in the information you gave me."

I shrugged.

"I guess I forgot. There are many timelines and alternate realities. It's confusing at times and some details are forgotten."

"I see. You'll write up a report on all you can remember. Now, what do you need?"

He went right back to the pad and I was silent as I mulled over what I wanted to ask. 

"It's…" I clenched my jaw. " I was thinking of introducing some of the stuff from my world on this earth."

Batman looked up.

"Explain."

I pulled up a chair and rested my hands on the table. 

"You know, things like music and books."

The glare came back again.

"No."

I knew this was gonna be hard but I couldn't do it alone while also being a hero. I needed Batman's or rather Bruce Wayne's help.

"Look, I know your reasoning behind saying no." I stopped to judge his reaction and continued when I saw he was listening.

"You think that I might mess up and disclose something that I shouldn't. Which is understandable, given my situation."

My fingers started tapping on the table, a nervous tic I've always had.

"That can be solved by vetting everything before I release it."

"You're avoiding the main reason."

Batman's gruff voice answered. His white eyes speared through my own and I felt like there was nothing I could hide.

The tapping increased.

"Ok," I sighed. "You also think that the chances of other fictional worlds existing is highly probable due to this planet being real here yet just a story back in my home dimension. You're worried that someone from another dimension might travel here by whatever fluke and come across a spoiler on their life."

'Mmh.' He grunted, making me shake my head.

"DC doesn't do crossovers except maybe with Marvel. And…"

"This discussion is over Maelstrom."

I got up a little angry. I knew Batman was stubborn but come on.

"Alright, I get the point about the books and what not. But what about music?"

I think he might have cocked an eyebrow at me.

"I just want to do something I'm good at. Being a Superhero is a noble use for my abilities but I feel like it's still not enough for me. My uncle owned a recording studio and I have grown up with music surrounding me."

The Dark Knight was silent for a while. 

"I will think about it."

Was that the best I could get out of him? Yes. Did I get the hint to leave it at that? Yes. Did I follow it? No.

"Look Batman, I know you're concerned about a whole lot more than some teenager from another dimension asking you to let him do something he loves…but there's nothing to think about. This is something I am not willing to back down on or make concessions about. I just thought I should inform you out of respect. Have a nice day, Sir."

I turned and left the room, trying and failing to calm down my shaking hand. That was very nerve-wracking. Somehow standing up to Gotham's protector was much more scary than fighting Blockbuster and Mister Twister combined.

I had meant every word I said to him. I loved music and now that I was in another world I wanted to bring some of my favorite songs to life. Especially considering that this world didn't have Chris Brown, Drake or any of the well known stars. I won't lie…I was excited to be the pioneer of a different kind of hip hop, trap, rnb…you name it.

The shit I had was going to leave the whole world shook. Too bad Batman said no to me writing some of the bestsellers from my world. You know what? What if I use a pen name? Not only that but I could think of a few light novels I could discreetly upload online. 

Then when I have already established myself, bam! I come up with Harry Potter. For this plan to work, the telepathic lessons were a must now. I needed to remember the books clearer.

The whole team was at the Kitchen but I didn't feel like talking to anyone just yet. I wanted to freshen up first. Martian Manhunter was coming for the telepathic lessons I had asked for. M'gann had been showing me some exercises on how I could increase focus by getting rid of distractions. The lessons were good and really informative. But I also found them a bit lacking.

M'gann refused to challenge me. She didn't want to hurt me by taking it too far, So Manhunter was my only chance at not being babied.

I had my shower and sat down on the bed after remembering to check out my status. The first Subskill was Unlocked, I wondered what the next one was going to be.

Air Element ( Master)

-Flight. (Unlocked)

-Locked.