DC: DON'T UTTER A WORD - CHAPTER 98 (Patreon)

[David Lance POV]

Within a few moments of starting our match, I managed to knock both Robin and Aqualad out of bounds. However, my victory wasn't one without mistakes.

During the one minute I gave us to strategize; Kid Flash behaved like your average teenager when forced to do something they don't want to do but have no other choice but to do, so as a result, our coordination was beyond terrible, and terrible was me being nice with how bad we had cooperated with one another during the match.

His attitude during the match had forced me to adapt my plans and play around him in order to secure the win.

After the match, I debriefed the team again like I had done earlier, pointing out our individual wrongs during this exercise, including mine.

Training done, I walked out of the room, making my way to the showers in order to allow the team to interact without my presence.

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'David,' Raven said as she telepathically linked with me. 'Hitting the showers so early?'

'I figured the team could use some time to talk without me around,' I replied before I turned the water on.

'Kid Flash doesn't like you. At all,' Raven said after a few moments.

'I know,' I replied with a sigh. 'I can tell.'

'He's going to be a problem,' Raven replied calmly.

'I know,' I repeated as I regulated the shower's temperature. 'But we'll figure it out. Together.'

'I know you will,' Raven replied, closing the connection.

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I stepped out of the shower a few minutes later, fully dressed, feeling refreshed, only to find the team, save for Raven, talking with Red Tornado, asking about getting missions. I sighed; it seemed like even with training keeping them occupied, they still wanted to get their hands on some real experience.

"Mission assignments are Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado said in an emotionless tone.

"This team is not a social club," Aqualad replied.

"No. But I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise," Red tornado replied. "Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave."

With that said, Red Tornado left, leaving the team behind without much to say.

"I told them not to," Raven said, announcing my presence to the team.

"We didn't mean go beyond your back," Aqualad said, taking a step forward.

~It's fine,~ I replied, waving his concerns off. ~Going beyond my back would have been going on a mission without me or behind my back. This is fine. Besides, you guys are entitled to know if we have missions or not.~

"So... Do you guys want a tour?" M'gann offered after a moment of silence. "The four of us live here. You know, Bolt, Raven, Superboy and I... So, if you guys want, we could play guides."

"Don't look at me," Superboy said, his arms crossed. Clearly not interested.

"Or me," Raven replied.

~Or me,~ I signed.

"Great, a team of antisocials making an echo," Kid Flash muttered. "But hey! It works for me; besides, the only tour I want is from Miss M."

I glared at him. Letting him know he was getting too close to be crossing the harassment line we spoke about earlier with M'gann

"I'm just being friendly," Kid Flash said, his mouth forming a thin line as he took a step back under my glare.

Yeah, right... friendly.

"I'll take you up on that offer, Miss Martian," Aqualad said, changing the subject back to the base in order to defuse the situation.

M'gann beamed, looking around to see if anyone else was going on the tour, getting nods from everyone. "Alright then! Follow me!"

As I watched them go, I lingered in place for a moment, smiling at how happy M'gann was about something so simple, like giving a tour of the place, before making my way behind them, following them close behind.

Team building, right?

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For the next few minutes, I followed the team as M'gann gave the tour, explaining things like how old the mountain was or that the base was technically the entire mountain, as the League had hollowed it out when they first used it.

I stayed in the back with Raven in silence, letting the team interact with each other without me as M'gann showed them around. By their interactions as the tour progressed, it was clear that they were starting to warm up to each other.

Even Superboy seemed somewhat interested in interacting.

Eventually, the tour led us to the ship bay area, where M'gann asked Red Tornado to open the doors in order to show everyone her ship. It was here when a mild headache hit me, as a few images appeared in my mind.

I tried not to show any signs I was being affected by this, but even though I showed no physical signs of discomfort, Raven noticed immediately, giving me a look that told me she knew something was wrong.

~I'm okay,~ I assured her with a smile under my mask.

Raven nodded, her body language telling me, I will believe you for now, but we will discuss this later. I nodded, happy with that unspoken arrangement, all while trying to make sense of what I had seen a few moments ago.

Mister Twister.

The first enemy the team fought as an official team.

Of all memories to forget or lock, why that one? If anything, that memory seemed useless in the grand scheme of things, inconsequential to the very core of the word. I mean, I remember a lot about the Light, who quite honestly was more important than Mr. Twister of all villains.

Hell, Mr. Twister was a one-episode kind of villain. That's how utterly insignificant he was.

I sighed.

Maybe the memories I had locked or forgotten didn't have to make sense in terms of importance. Perhaps they were just random bits of information that were randomly locked. That was a possibility, but honestly, without any data about my situation, I doubted that to be the case.

After all, unless proven otherwise, there was always a reason for things, even if that reason wasn't readily apparent.

"Bolt?" M'gann’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Are you okay?"

I turned to her, seeing the look of concern on her face. It seemed like she had noticed something wrong with me as well.

~I'm fine,~ I lied easily enough. ~Just lost in thought.~

M'gann didn't look convinced, but she didn't call me out on it either, instead turning back to the team as her ship opened. "So, you guys want to go for a ride?"

Everyone nodded.

I sighed, giving M'gann a nod.