DC: DON'T UTTER A WORD - CHAPTER 94 (Patreon)

[David Lance POV]

In a matter of days, I quickly fell into a routine; training with the team every morning before breakfast, or at least with those that were here for that matter.

After training, our days were pretty much open, especially considering Batman wasn’t giving us any missions, which left most of the day after training free for team-building exercises and activities. 

As the temporary leader of the team, my current focus was on making sure that we were able to work together and build something great, something that wouldn't depend on me. I had to make sure that they could function as a team without me, and that meant building a bridge of trust and respect between them.

So far, my plan seemed to be going well; Superboy and M'gann were slowly but surely opening more and more to me, dropping their walls, each one in their own way, and I had to say they were making remarkable progress, all things considered.

But, there was always room for improvement.

"Bolt, I made cookies. Want some?" M'gann said, knocking at the door of my room two times as she spoke. 

I smiled at her thoughtfulness and got up from my bed, putting the book I had been reading on the night table as I walked to the door.

~What kind?~ I asked curiously as I opened the door.

"Chocolate chip," M'gann said with a bright smile, holding out a plate of still-warm cookies for me to see.

My eyes widened in appreciation and I took one off the plate, taking a big bite out of it. ~Mmm, oh god, these are amazing!~ I said genuinely, already reaching for another one.

She giggled and blushed a little at my compliment before shoving the whole plate into my chest. "They are all yours."

~All mine?~  I asked, holding the warm plate of cookies with one hand.

"Yup, Superboy and Raven already got some, so seeing you were in your room, I made a whole plate just for you," M'gann nodded, beaming at me with a bright smile.

I stared at her for a few seconds before smiling at her with my eyes once again. ~Thank you, M'gann.~

"It's not a big deal," M'gann said bashfully, clearly not used to this kind of attention.

~You could be a chef,~ I said, changing the subject ever so slightly. ~Every time you make something, it is better than the last batch of whatever you made. It's impressive, and I kind of envy you for being this good.~

M'gann blushed harder, her smile extending from ear to ear now. "I used to help my mom in the kitchen a lot when I was younger, and well, there was also a lot of cooking shows from Earth that uncle J'onn used to bring every other month; I never could cook anything from those shows, but I always wanted to, and well here I am." At this, her eyes grew distant for a moment, almost sad with a touch of nostalgia. "It's always been something I enjoyed doing.”

~Well, you have a gift,~ I said before popping another cookie into my mouth.

M'gann giggled. "Well, I'm glad you think so!" With that said, she bid me goodbye and went back to her own room, leaving me alone with the plate of cookies.

I sighed contentedly as I sat down on my bed, munching on a cookie as I picked up my book once again.

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The next morning, I woke up extra early, around 4:00 AM, making my way to the training room to start my training routine, the one before the one I had with the team, only to find Raven, Superboy, and M'gann waiting for me there.

"Took you long enough, sleeping beauty," Superboy said, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall.

I frowned. ~What are you guys doing here?~ I asked, getting straight to the point. Not even Raven liked waking up this early to pre-train with me.

"We wanted to train with you," M'gann replied with a smile as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I arched an eyebrow at her. ~Why? I mean, your training starts at 6:30 AM.~ I asked, still not understanding what they were trying to achieve by training with me.

"You train no less than ten hours a day, with or without us, so taking that into account, it has become evident you are a few steps ahead of us with your regime," Raven said simply, shrugging her shoulders as if it was no big deal. "Besides, you're the strongest one here, and our leader, it's only natural we follow your example."

"Strongest," Superboy huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he pushed himself away from the wall. "Please, I could take him down any day."

~No, you couldn't,~ I signed back at him with a smirk.

"Oh yeah?" Superboy challenged, but surprisingly not in an angry manner. 

"It's not fair for you to train this much alone," M'gann said, coming to stand next to me, her eyes imploring me to understand. "We are supposed to be a team, and if you are too ahead of us, we will only slow you down."

Well, if they truly want to start training earlier, fine by me. I was honestly easing them into training so as not to scare them, but this works. ~Fine, let's start with a quick warmup, followed by some spars, you and me, Superboy.~

"Deal," Superboy said with a smirk as he cracked his knuckles.

"Let's do this!" M'gann exclaimed excitedly.

"I feel like I will regret this," Raven muttered under her breath, but despite her words, I could see the excitement in her eyes, as well as a small smile creeping on her face.

And with that, our training began.

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A few hours later, a few minutes after noon, our training came to an end for the day.

The entire team was drenched in sweat, panting and gasping for breath. Hell, Raven and M'gann looked like they were about to pass out, with both having had the hardest time keeping up with the physical part of my training.

"Your luck will... end one of these days," Superboy said between pants, trying to catch his breath as he sat on the floor with his back against the wall.

~It's not luck, but yeah, I'm certain one of these days you will make our spars unbearably hard for me,~ I replied with a nod, being the only one that looked fresh in terms of energy. Sure, I was drenched in sweat, but honestly, I could keep going if I wanted to.

"You must hate your body; how can you subject it to this daily?" Raven muttered under her breath, but I could see the amusement in her eyes. "What's worse is that you make it look so easy."

~It's all about practice, focus, and repetition,~ I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. ~If you guys keep at it like this, you'll be able to keep up with me in no time.~