6

As it turned out, the answer was nothing at all.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility." Red Tornado's synthetic voice echoed oddly in the entry hall as he stared the lot of us down. Which he could do surpassingly well for having only darkened depressions in his face in place of eyes.

Robin didn't particularly care for that answer. "But it's been over a week, and nothing-!"

"You will be tested soon enough." The android interrupted as he raised a placating hand. "For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."

Kaldur wasn't happy about this either. "This team is not a social club." He said sternly.

"No. But I am told that social interaction is an important team building exercise."

He really needs to polish his social skills, I thought to myself at his mechanical delivery. I mean, I was pretty sure it wasn't really his fault, but Red Tornado's tone came off as very patronizing. Still, even now I found the obviously mechanical man's mannerisms and personality fascinating for what he was. I had actually done a bit of AI work back in my home reality, so meeting a fully sapient AI was a special kind of exciting for me. The man himself unfortunately was more versed in his own hardware than software and couldn't give me too many technical details on how he was sapient, but the conversations I had with him were enlightening nonetheless.

What he had just said though made me think of something. "Are we going to be doing some actual team based training at some point?"

Red Tornado turned to me. "That would be Black Canary's responsibility, but there is nothing stopping you from carrying out such exercises at your own discretion. For the time being, you can keep yourself busy by familiarizing yourself with the Mountain." And without another word he simply walked past us.

My mouth twists a little as I watch him go. "What do you think I've been doing for the past week…" I muttered to myself.

"Does he really think we're falling for this?" Robin asked angrily.

"Oh, I'll find-" M'gann started before she glanced at me and seemed to remember something. "Oh, right. Red Tornado's a machine. I cannot read his mind."

"And I don't think he'd appreciate it if you somehow did." I remarked with a raised eyebrow, and she flushed a darker green. I knew it wasn't her fault considering she came from a culture where everyone was telepathic, but over the week M'gann had reflexively used (or tried to use) telepathy during conversations to read our surface thoughts a couple of times. She had learned to stop trying with me pretty quick, and Kori seemed to find it more novel than anything else, but Superboy… well, there was a bit of an incident. Apparently his conditioning had been performed via a telepathic synthetic species called G-Gnomes, and the experience had not left him endeared to 'stuff getting in his head'. It took the better part of the day for me and Kori to get him talking to her again. Either way, I had tried to impress on her not to do that so casually, though it seemed she had a ways to go.

Wally, of course, was of a different opinion. "Hey, it might have been worth a shot." He leaned in close with a grin. "Know what I'm thinking right now?"

"We all know what you're thinking now." Robin quipped.'

"Hey!"

Kaldur didn't add to this, instead pressing his mouth into a thin line. "And now we tour the club house…" he muttered.

I understood the teen's annoyance, but it caused me to feel annoyed in turn. "Have you guys seriously known about this place for a week and not even bothered to visit it once?"

"Hey, we came here! You know, that one time…" Wally trailed off.

"Uh huh." I said flatly. "Maybe the League would have actually given you guys a mission if you had bothered to acquaint yourself with the mountain fortress headquarters they gave you. Or even just talked to your new teammates, which you knew about for equally as long."

That… came out harsher then I had meant it to, but it had been something had been bothering me all week. Not in the least of which because M'gann was so keen on making new friends and they had sort of ignored her. Still, this hadn't been the first time I had been more assertive than usual in conversation, and the trend was starting to worry me a little. What was causing it?

Kaldur, Wally, and Robin all looked sheepish for a few seconds before the Atlantian let out a sigh. "Perhaps you have a point. I apologize."

"It's ok!" M'gann chipped in. "Just, you know, come over more."

There was a pause before I clapped my hands together. "Welp, I think I've explored this place the most, so I guess I'll be leading the tour." I turned and stared walking down the hall. "Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and do not stray off the path, lest you be eaten by a Grue."

--------------------​

It took about half an hour to show off everything I had found in the base (it did take up the entire mountain after all). I had even managed to find a few passageways and rooms that my roommates hadn't known about. Robin had shown a brief interest when I had suggested that we also tour the secret tunnels and air duct network, but everyone else had been far less enthused by the prospect.

Eventually we found ourselves in the massive cargo bay as I wrapped things up. "All in all, the Mountain has everything you need for the perfect Superhero headquarters and/or home away from home. Though for some of us it's just home." I paused for a moment. "Honestly make me wonder why the League doesn't use it."

It was Kaldur that answered me. "The Mountain's secret location was… compromised."

I blinked at that and I turned to look at him. "Wait, I was told that we were supposed to keep our presence here a secret. How are we going to do that if everyone knows there's a base here?"

Robin waved it off. "The bad guys know that we know they know, so they'd never think to look here."

I scowled. "That's a terrible assumption. Security through obscurity only works until it doesn't, and we've technically already lost ours. I guarantee you the moment that people notice that our team exists they're going to check here first."

"I think you're being a little paranoid." Wally said skeptically.

"I think I'm being practical." I retorted. I'd have to see if Batman was willing to invest in more internal defenses for the Mountain, if and when an incursion happened (because I honestly couldn't remember a superhero headquarters that wasn't invaded at some point). If not, I'd probably have to do something on my own. Not that I had the faintest clue of how to build things like that.

Before I could think on it more Superboy spoke up. "I smell smoke."

M'gann started. "My cookies!" She yelled before she flew off towards the kitchen.

--------------------​

The Martian sighed as she floated a tray of blackened cookies out of the oven, setting them down on the nearby island as the rest of us filtered in and gathered around. "I was trying out Ramie Jones's recipe from episode seventeen of- never mind" she said.

I saw Robin arch an eyebrow from behind his sunglasses. "They don't seem to mind." He said as he pointed at Wally and Koriand'r, both of whom were devouring the burnt cookies with alarming speed. The two paused as they say us looking at them, and Wally swallowed his mouthful. "I, uh, have a serious metabolism."

"And I like the flavor of the burnt outside." Kori said cheerfully. I had to suppress a snort at that. Turned out that Tamaranians were Omnivores, capitalization intended. She could metabolize practically anything organic, and they had the taste buds to reflect that. Subsequently, dinner on nights when it was her turn to cook was… interesting. For everyone with functioning taste buds anyway.

Wally was gazing at Kori like he had found his soulmate, so he almost missed M'gann saying "Oh, well, I guess I make more."

"It was nice of you to make any." Kaldur commented.

"Thanks Aqualad!"

He paused for a moment before he said. "Now that we are all together, perhaps now is the best time for introductions. Since we will be working together, you can call me Kaldur."

The redhead leaned forward as he followed his friend's lead. "I'm Wally. See, I already trust you girls with my secret ID. Unlike mister dark glasses here." He pointed at Robin. "Batman's forbidden him from telling anyone his real name."

But I know it. Probably. I thought to myself. I had told Batman about Jason Todd and his death, but the superhero said he had never heard of the boy. Which meant that the kid in front of me was most likely a very young Dick Grayson. To be honest if I had guessed without that bit of foreknowledge I probably would have pegged him as Tim Drake, but shows what I know.

"Mine's no secret. It's M'gann M'orrz, but you can call me Megan."

I then noticed that Superboy was starting to get restless next to me, so I shot him a questioning look and asked quietly "Something bothering you?"

He didn't answer right away, but he eventually muttered "Bored. Don't really care about for all this talk about stuff I already know."

I grunted. "Shouldn't be too much longer."

"So…" I heard Wally said as he turned his gaze back towards Kori, his expression and tone attempting to be smooth. "Never did catch your name, sunset."

She turned to look at him. "Yes, introductions. My name is Koriand'r. I came here from the planet Tamaran seeking a new life, and those in the Justice League saw fit to let me serve my new home with this company."

"And we are glad to have you here." Wally said with a grin. "What was wrong with your old planet, found it boring?"

My mouth pressed into a thin line at that, but Kori just sighed. "No, it was a wonderful place, but my home was invaded by a star conquering empire, and is now under their rule. I was captured and imprisoned before I managed to escape. I cannot go back, lest I suffer the same fate."

Wally winced at the landmine he had just stepped on, and Kaldur bowed his head. "I am sorry. It must be very difficult for you."

"I shall endure." Kori replied. "There were those who suffered worse fates than I, and I have the chance to start again."

A sad smile crossed my face and the kitchen was silent for a long moment before Wally decided to change the subject, turning to me. "So, what about you? How did you end up here?"

"With her, actually." I said. "A few days ago I was abducted (I think), and I ended up on the same space station that Kori was on. They did… this to me." I gestured to myself. "Before I could figure out why though Kori managed to break out and freed me along the way. After that I hijacked a ship and we headed to Earth. After we were picked up in orbit the League decided that I could be of use here."

Robin titled his head. "Whoa, that must have been a big change. Does your family even know you're here?"

I felt a small stab of sadness before I said "I… don't really have one to go back to." I said vaguely and left it at that before waved my hand and moved on. "Right now I'm just trying to see what I can do with my present circumstances. An apparently that's become a superhero." I paused before I looked off to the side. "Not exactly the most stirring of motivations for the job now that I think about it, but I guess you're stuck with me."

"You should not talk about yourself like that! I am sure that-" Kori started to say before she stopped, her eyes narrowing at me. "Wait. Are you being the self-deprecating again?"

I sighed before I responded "Yes, I am being the self-deprecating again." Technically I was more underselling myself, but I already had enough trouble explaining my particular sense of humor to her. I knew that I was going to be explaining a lot of my mannerisms to her (and probably the others) in the future to prevent misunderstandings, but now was not the time for it.

She frowned slightly to express her disapproval, but before she could say more Robin just chuckled. "Believe me, I've met superheroes with worse reasons than that." He gestured. "Just stick with us and you'll learn in no time." He paused before he added "That said, what can you do?"

"Well, my body is made out of biomechanical nanites, which gives me the ability to shapeshift." At that, the ridges all over my body grew larger and more pronounced, forming into spiraling patterns and curving blades. I could have shown them my xenomorph form, but I think it would have been a little much at the moment (besides which, I had plans for that reveal, hehehe). "It doesn't seem to be as… complete as Maritain shapeshifting, but it comes with a major benefit. Any technology I consume, I can replicate." For emphasis I shifted one of my arms into a lightning claw and the other into a laser cannon.

Happy as I was with those two things though, I was a little disappointed that I had yet to receive my first shipment of Psion tech down from the Watchtower. I know that the Green Lanterns were probably busy people, but it couldn't take them that long to analyze the damn stuff. Batman would probably make sure I got it before he actually assigned us a mission, but after a week I should probably remind him to be sure.

That said, I wasn't completely out of luck when it came to alien tech. A couple of days after I moved in, M'gann had presented me with a house warming present: a baseball sized lump of Martian telepathic biotechnology. Seemed that she was able to get her bioship to make it separately, and I had no problems in consuming and replicating it. The actual results were mixed, however. While M'gann could mentally connect to my new 'organ', it didn't actually get rid of the original problem. After testing some things we found out that the feedback she was getting from me was because her telepathy was actually registering each and every one of my nanites to be a valid single 'mind'. As a result she would hear the combined chittering of trillions of tiny voices. I had no idea how to take that bit of knowledge, by the way.

After some experimentation it became clear that in order to actually get a clear signal to her I had to convert almost my entire body into a telepathic ansible, which I did not particularly enjoy. Both because I think I started to pick up some background psychic 'white noise', and because it made me a twisted immobile pillar thing (I looked like a Dead Space marker, just to make things more unsettling). While M'gann was happy that she got to hear my mental voice, it looked like this wouldn't be something I would be doing too often.

I had hoped that I might have been able to try my hand at some other Martian technologies, but M'gann wasn't certain she could give me anything else. Her bioship was relatively sparsely equipped, and it wasn't capable of growing another set of engines for me to eat. Its camouflage function was a possibility, but the way she explained it was that for Martian tech to function properly, it had to be a fully functioning, alive system (i.e., not just a piece of its outer hull). You couldn't just take a piece out and expect it to work, and M'gann didn't have the proper bioengineering skills to jury rig something that would apparently be more complex than her previous offering.

Regardless of all this, my new teammates seemed suitably impressed with what I had. Robin let out a low whistle. "Man, any tech? I'd like to see Mr. Freeze's face if his own freeze gun was turned on him."

I shifted back to my regular form as I said "Actually I've been looking to get one of those, but Batman says all the ones the League has in storage count as evidence. I'll have to get one by… other means." It was a good starting point for Earth super-tech after all: versatile, potentially non-lethal, and I knew Captain Cold made his from commercially available parts.

After a moment Wally turned his attention to Kori. "And what have you got?"

"I have been told that I am much stronger and more durable than humans. We Tamaranians are also capable of flight." She said before she lifted a foot or so off the ground to demonstrate. "As well, Jacob was not the only one to be experimented on. As a result I can do this." She held out her hands as green energy formed in both of them. I watched as the gathering of her power caused her hair to glow and ignite, flames trailing down from the end and coiling around her.

M'gann let out a small noise and flinched back, clearly feeling uncomfortable at the sudden exposure to fire. Kori started and the flames cut out instantly. "I am sorry, I forgot!" She said awkwardly.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked.

"Martians aren't very fond of fire…" M'gann said as she flushed a slightly darker green.

Robin decided not to press the matter and looked back at Kori. "I wonder how that works… The hair thing, I mean."

Kori settled down onto the ground and shook her head. "To be honest, I don't know. This only started happening after the Psions experimented on me, and there are no Tamaranians I knew back home that had the same trait. I am not sure what causes it."

"It's exhaust energy." Everyone turned to look at me, and I explain. "I can see a wider spectrum of light than normal humans, so I have a rough idea of what happening with the energy in your body. There's a lot of circulation to the various parts of your body, but as the energy starts to shift down spectrum it flows upwards to your head. Normally it would stop at your scalp, but it seems that whatever your hair is made of conducts the energy. It travels down to the tips before it's finally released as a novel form of plasma, hence the fire effect."

Kori looked thoughtful at that, but M'gann tilted her head. "What exactly were they trying to do to you that resulted in this?"

"They were trying to see how much energy I could absorb before I exploded." She replied flatly. "Tamaranians have the natural ability to absorb ultraviolet rays and use it. Rather than giving them the result they expected though, I am now able to absorb far more than normal, and use it to fire bolts of energy."

I hummed at that. "To be honest, I'm a little surprised at that. I mean, all they did was force massive amounts of ultraviolet light into you, right? It's kind of odd that you're the first Tamaranian to show these abilities."

She shook her head. "I am not the first."

This caused me to blink. Wait, what?

She continued before I could ask. "The sun of Tamaran goes through brief periods of intense activity every few hundred years, increasing the amount of radiation the planet receives immensely. Though much of the life on Tamaran has evolved to use the light of the sun, this excess is too much and is deadly to that which cannot find shelter. Including my own species."

She looked off into space, as if remembering something. "But every so often there is one who faces the solar storm, by accident or by choice, and it changes them. Their bodies adapt the torrent of energy flowing through them and rather than be consumed by it they become one with it. These men and women of legend are known as Roshak'ar, Radiant Ones. They are key figures in our history, and the last one founded the current ruling dynasty."

And is your ancestor I imagine, I thought to myself. As far as I had known Kori's powers (as well as her siblings') had only ever been the results of experiments, nothing more. The fact that there was more to it in this reality was surprising… but made sense.

It was then that Superboy turned and started to walk away. I guess he reached his limit, I thought. Trying to keep him engaged, I called out to him "Hey Superboy, anything you want to tell about yourself?"

His mouth twisted as he turned back towards us. "Nothing to tell that you guys don't already know. Half of you were there when you took me out of my pod." He said, and he turned back and resumed his exit.

M'gann looked a little distressed at this, but after a few moments she seemed to strike on an idea. "Oh, I know what we can do!" She floated ahead of Superboy and gestured. "Come on!"

--------------------​

A short while later, the lot of us were on board M'gann's bioship, soaring through the air above Happy Harbor (with the camouflage on, thankfully). I only listened with half an ear as the Martian listed off the specs as I had heard them before, though part of me still marveled at the technorganic wonder I was inside of. Psion tech and the Watchtower had both been advanced, but the sleek red and black craft was the first thing I had seen that seemed truly alien. The way it could swiftly alter its shape into complex 'organs' and a user friendly cockpit was fascinating to watch. Hell, even the chair I was sitting in had grown up out of the floor. If only I could…

No, bad Jacob! No thinking about taking a bite out of the bioship! Thankfully the living vessel didn't seem to notice my plight as I squirmed in my seat.

Robin then managed to get my attention as he suddenly turned to me and said "That reminds me, what's your superhero name?"

I winced. "I'm… still working on that one, actually." I had a whole white board full of names, point in fact, but I haven't been able to settle on one. Sure some of them are good enough, but I felt like this was the sort of thing I wanted to get perfect on the first try.

He shrugged. "Alright, but you're gonna want to think of one soon. Can't just call you Jacob in the middle of combat."

Kori titled her head. "Ah, this is about the title you bear when you go into battle, correct?"

"Yep. Every superhero's got a name. You know what yours is going to be?"

Kori paused for a moment before she started to answer, but then she stopped herself and looked at me. It took me a second to realize why: she knew that I knew what name she had taken back in the comics, and was looking to see if I had any input. After a long moment I simply nodded to her and gestured, as if to say 'it's your call'. I wasn't going tell her what her name was 'supposed' to be just because of what the comics said. Whatever she picked, it should be hers.

She only paused for a moment longer before she turned back to Robin and said "Starfire."

In spite of myself, I smiled at that. I guess somethings don't change, I thought as I stared out the window at the ground below.

…

Wait, was that a tornado?