Kori broke off the clash and unleashed a barrage of Starbolts, forcing Red Volcano to leap behind an earthen pillar. That bought her enough time to dart upward and snag Wally, who was desperately spinning with his unbroken arm, generating a tornado to dodge attacks.
She caught him by the waist, then hurled him like a javelin toward Red Volcano's last position. "Drag him into the volcano!"
Match, meanwhile, had gotten distracted—chasing Red Inferno like it was a game of high-speed tag.
"Match!" Kori shouted over the roaring winds as Red Tornado battered her with more tornadoes. "Laser her!"
Match snapped back to attention and unleashed twin beams of heat vision.
Kori fired her own beams at Red Torpedo and Red Tornado.
Red Torpedo attempted to block with a water pillar, but Kori's solar Starbolts evaporated the torrent instantly. Her beam sliced through Red Torpedo's torso and clipped Red Tornado's legs, sending him spinning.
Red Inferno fell next—Match's heat vision carving through her chassis once he stopped playing around.
Match was about to turn his heat vision on Red Tornado when Kori cut in:
"Stop. Help Wally. Make sure Volcano melts in the volcano."
Red Tornado, legless and desperate, hurled enough hurricanes to uproot trees and peel the earth apart—keeping Kori at bay.
Fine.
"Nanode, open a boom tube above him."
Joseph had recently given her a new Fatherbox—he didn't say how he got it. The device, integrated into her Nanode, now held a nonsentient AI able to interface with tech, heal her, convert pure Source energy into solar energy to passively empower her, and open boom tubes.
A boom tube snapped open overhead.
Kori shot through it, reappearing above an unprepared Red Tornado. She seized both arms and ripped them off cleanly. The android convulsed and collapsed, unable to generate another tornado.
She lowered with the disabled android as Wally and Match sped over.
"Done?" she asked.
"Yeah," Wally said. "I dragged him in, but the shifting terrain almost messed me up. He was climbing out when Match came in and baptized him in magma."
Match grinned and gave a thumbs-up, his solar suit completely unscathed by molten rock.
A burst of black magic signaled the Team's arrival.
Robin sprinted to Red Tornado and plugged his holographic computer into the inert android as the others gathered around.
"Do you guys always fight villains this strong?" Zatanna asked, wide-eyed.
"That level of threat is usually for the Justice League," Kaldur said, surveying the wrecked landscape. "The Team typically handles covert operations. They rarely escalate this far."
"So… can we boot Tornado and get answers?" Conner asked impatiently.
Robin swallowed. "His databanks were wiped. He's only programmed to help Volcano destroy humanity now. He probably didn't join them willingly."
Superboy and the others who knew Tornado fell silent.
The ground rumbled violently. Magma surged from the volcano far faster than before.
"We're on the verge of a Stage 3 supervolcano eruption," Wally said, alarm sharpening his voice. "There's no stopping that once it starts. We need to vent pressure—fast. The ash cloud will cause global nuclear winter if it spreads."
"What do we do?" M'gann asked. "This is… really out of our league. Should we call the Justice League?"
"Oh no, I'm going to be grounded for life," Zatanna groaned.
The Team turned to Kori.
Kori sighed. Even with all her growth… she still needed her boyfriend's help. "Nanode, call Nova."
The green gem projected a hologram of Nova's helmet.
"What's up?" Joseph asked.
"A supervolcano is about to erupt. Any solutions?"
"Sure. I'll be right there. Cass, I'll be back in ten minutes!" he called out.
Kori heard Cassandra faintly answer, "Okay." It was nice to see she was adjusting and talking more now. No child should have to go through what she did.
A golden boom tube opened.
"Hey guys," Joseph said casually, stepping out in full Nova armor—completely unfazed by the imminent apocalypse.
"Uh… fate of the world at stake, Joe," Roy said.
"Right, right. Robin—already mapped the pressure loci?"
Robin brought up a hologram with glowing red markers.
"Arsenal, Artemis—hit those points."
Artemis fired arrows that morphed into guided rockets. Roy launched his own rockets from his cybernetic arms. Explosions cracked the mountainside—steam and ash vented upward.
"I'll handle the rest," Joseph said.
He shot high into the sky—then a massive tornado formed over the volcano, funneling the ash away. Pressure dropped. The volcano calmed.
He landed moments later. "I siphoned the ash cloud into space," Joseph said nonchalantly.
Most of the Team stood slack-jawed. But Match flew forward and dapped up his brother with a grin.
"When could you do that?" Wally sputtered.
Joseph shrugged. "Just some new technology I picked up. I can basically do anything if I set my mind to it."
"Like magic?" Zatanna asked.
"You could say that. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. And I could probably learn to control magic as well," he said glancing at Aqualad for a moment.
"Then, can you restore Tornado?" Conner asked.
"I can try. Depends on whether Morrow's lab has a backup. Do you guys know where it is?"
**
| T.O. Morrow's Lab - October 10
"There, that should do it," Joseph said as he stepped back from Red Tornado's broken form lying prone on the lab bench. The Team gathered around.
Fortunately, T.O. Morrow had saved a backup of Red Tornado's memories before wiping him. Joseph restored them to the state they were in moments before the wipe—and reinstalled Tornado's missing voice box.
"Yes. I can speak again," Red Tornado said.
"You were never a traitor, were you?" Kori asked.
"No. I left to protect you from further attack and to find my creator, Morrow," Tornado answered.
"Why didn't you tell us?" M'gann asked.
"I did not want to jeopardize my cover and risk having my memories erased. It was all for nothing, however, as I was unable to prevent that."
"Ooh, souvenir," Wally said from across the hideout, holding a robotic hand despite the cast on his arm—which looked healed thanks to the Speed Force.
"Reddie," Robin called from another section of the lab, holding a spare leg. "We can rebuild you better than before."
"I do not believe I should be repaired," Red Tornado said.
"Why'd you volunteer to be our den mother in the first place?" Superboy asked.
"I was the pragmatic choice. I do not require sleep. I have no secret identity or second life to maintain."
"But you do have advanced AI programming designed to learn, adapt, and evolve," Kid Flash said.
"Hello, Megan—you wanted to become more human," M'gann added.
"And you couldn't do that with the League. They're stiffs," Zatanna said. She seemed to be the newest member of the Team.
"You're definitely not learning emotions from Batman. Trust me," Robin said.
"I do not know whether these statements are accurate. But if I understand the term correctly… perhaps I have come to care about you all," Tornado said.
"See?" Conner said. "You're practically a meatbag already."
Well, all's well that ends well. Joseph was glad the weather wand tech he'd been testing held up. And this whole mission had given him inspiration on how to expand the capabilities of his magic bands beyond firing blasts. With skin icons like Kaldur's, he could learn to control Chaos magic despite his Nth metal physiology.
"Did the League let you guys go after Red Tornado?" Joseph asked.
"The Team voted on it," Artemis said. "So we snuck out of the Cave thirty minutes ago while pretending to give Zatanna a tour."
"Then shouldn't you sneak back in? I can repair Red Tornado here and take the blame."
"You're right. Raven, can you teleport us back? I don't want my dad to find out. I like hanging out with you guys."
"Sure," Raven said, opening a portal that swallowed the entire Team—leaving only Kori and Joseph with Tornado.
"Thanks, Joseph," Kori said.
"No problem. I'm always down to help."
Then Kori opened a boom tube.
"Hey, I think you forgot something?" Joseph said, making his helmet vanish and tapping his cheek with a shameless grin.
Kori rolled her eyes but smiled, leaning in to give him a quick peck. "Happy now?"
"Very."
He watched her disappear through the boom tube, then gathered spare parts and continued his work.