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Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 20 - Back to the quarry
🕑 Added 2022-06-08 15:21:21 +0000 UTCRobin arrived through the Zeta-Tube first, dressed in costume and smiling. He immediately started working on the central room's projected computer, accessing something before pulling a file up. He opened it and turned to the three of us and waved us closer.
“So, I spent yesterday putting together all sorts of data on team dynamics and survival ratings. I even found some clips on pack tactics and that sort of thing.” He explained, gesturing at through the holograms and starting a short video clip of a team soldiers clearing a building. “I left some out because they are bloody, but the Batcave's computer had a surprising amount of footage from training exercises for special forces and the like.”
He turned back to the projected screen and tapped something, another video clip starting.
“I knew you were at least partially right Warren but I had no idea just how right you really were. The US army did a study and just a few weeks of training as a group nearly doubled a squads effectiveness when compared to a squad made up of equally trained, but divided soldiers. I also thought of another good example where there are even more studies.”
The young hero did some more hand movements and started playing footage of a football game. I didn’t recognize either of the teams.
“There are dozens of studies funded by various sports about how training a team together increases their effectiveness.”
“Damn, Robin that's a good catch. I hadn’t considered the sports angle at all.” I said, gesturing and pulling a file from the list down to me so I could read it. “Alright, this is a great place to start. When everyone else-”
“Recognized. Kid Flash. B-03.” The Zeta-Tube announced, a flash of light filling the room for a moment before fading.
“Hey guys, what's up?” Wally said, zipping around to stand next to Robin. “This the information you put together?”
“Yeah, it took most of yesterday but it was worth it.” Robin said, paging through some more data. “It's going to be hard to argue with a lot of this stuff. But what were you saying Warren?”
“I was saying that when everyone else gets here we could discuss either skipping sparring for today to focus on this, or, if everyone is okay with it, staying after we finish.” I continued, giving Wally a nod. “I think we need to get this done as soon as possible so we can present it to the League.”
“Why in such a rush?” Wally asked, zipping around to read over my shoulder.
“Besides the fact that the faster we figure this out the faster we can start actually training?” I said with a raised eyebrow. “Striking while the iron is hot is a legitimate concept. This team was just formed and as such is still mutable in people's minds. I would rather we try and shift what it is now, rather than when they have already internally decided what we are without our input.”
“Yeah… that's a fair point.” Robin said, nodding along and turning away from his screens. “I think that with a few hours of work we could narrow down everything I found into a single coherent presentation. That's said… It's missing something. I didn't bother adding any live fire videos cause I figured that that would be sending the wrong message…”
“Yeah, that would be counterproductive.”
“But we are missing something big, a finisher of some kind.” Robin said, turning back to the display screens. “Something with plenty of impact.”
“Something to drive it all home.” I agreed, nodding along. “Any ideas?”
“Why don't we fight one of them?” Wally suggested with a confident pose. “All of us versus one of them, we could show them what kind of things our opponents would be facing.”
Robin and I shared a look, both of us thinking hard about what Wally had suggested.
“An untrained team fighting against a League Member?” Robin said, still thinking. “We would be more likely to embarrass ourselves then overwhelm them with numbers.”
“...Unless we took it up a notch. I'm not saying we square up against Wonder Woman but… ” I said after a pause, gesturing to M’gann to step forward. “You guys are obviously uncomfortable with connecting as close as M’gann and I have… but what about something less invasive?”
“Like what?” Wally asked, already sounding skeptical.
“M’gann knows more about it than I do to be honest.” I admitted, before looking over at her. I could feel her nervousness rising but I did my best to mentally reassure her. “You know your stuff, I'm right here.”
“Right. Thank you.” She said, giving me a determined look and a nod before looking back at everyone. “If you had any particularly strong emotions they might bleed through, but that would only be on the extreme ends. I’m talking about life changing event levels of emotion. Otherwise it's no more information than someone might get from hearing your tone of voice or seeing your facial expression.”
“And what's to keep Wally from blurting out stupid thoughts whenever they enter his head?”
“That's not how it would work, I wouldn't be reading your thoughts.” M’gann explained, gaining confidence. “It would be much more like a radio you have to tap into.”
“I’m familiar with telepathic talking from the G-Gnomes at Cadmus.” Superboy admitted. “I’m… willing to give it a shot if it means being taken seriously by the League.”
“We… could put it to a vote when Kaldur gets here?” Robin suggested. “Challenging one or two of the League and managing to fight or even take them down would be a really strong finish. But I’m not sure we could really handle that, even with an advantage.”
“Do you think we could do it?” M’gann asked, deliberately not looking at me.
“...Maybe? It depends on which one we choose. I would put money on us taking down Black Canary or Green Arrow.” I thought back to her. “Batman would be up in the air. Anyone else looks less and less likely. For them the goal would be holding them off. For now at least.”
Before M’gann could respond the Zeta-Tube lit back up and Kaldur joined us. He was in costume and ready to spar, heading straight to the group as he looked at the screens. We spent a few minutes going over what we had talked about so far, before ending with Wally’s suggestion. Kaldur frowned and shook his head.
“While I understand where you are coming from I do not think we are ready for that.” He said. “Even with the edge of telepathic communication we would likely be unable to keep track of each other. Wally, Robin and I are familiar with each other's abilities and fighting tactics, but adding in three other teammates, with everyone talking at once. We would be more likely to get in each other's way, even if we could talk openly without worry of our opponents overhearing us.”
“That's… That's a fair point.” I reluctantly agree before continuing. “I would still like everyone to consider M’gann’s offer.”
“With how she described it, I would be willing to at least give it a try.” Kaldur said, looking over at M’gann and nodding. “It would give us a serious advantage in any fight.“
“Maybe we don't fight the League.” Robin cut in, having spent the last few minutes thinking to himself, deep in thought. “Maybe we fight each other, specifically M’gann and Warren.”
“Why?” Wally asked, looking confused.
“Because, two relative new heroes took on you and Kaldur and handily won.” He answered. “That in and of itself is impressive. What if it was us three against them two?”
“I don’t know… That's some tall odds.” I pointed out. “What M’gann and I do is useful but I don't know if it shifts the odds in our favor that much.”
“Even if you could do your earthbending?” Robin asked, causing me to reconsider, turning to the others to continue. “M’gann and Warren’s connection was a relatively solid stand-in for two people who know each other really well and could telepathically communicate. Heck, me and Batman have had moments like that and he would never let a telepath even close to his head.”
“And not only do our mentors know our own capabilities, they are familiar enough with us and with combat to know we wouldn't be pulling our punches.” Kaldur added. “I think this idea has some potential.”
“Only one problem guys, we don't know if M’gann and I are capable of doing that.” I pointed out. “I mean we haven't even had a chance to experiment with… what did you call it?”
“It’s not really called anything specific.” She answered with a shrug. “It's just a slightly deeper connection.”
“Well… What better time than a spar?” Robin suggested with a smirk. “C’mon. Worst case scenario you can't and we come up with a better idea.”
“I mean I’m perfectly happy to try.” I responded. “As long as M’gann is as well.”
I could feel M’gann’s nervousness, both about the challenge and the potential to be fighting in front of an audience and for such an important reason. I sent waves of reassurance and she calmed down a bit.
“I will try.” She said with confidence, only shrinking slightly when adding, “But maybe let's start off with a two on two again.”
-----------------------------
The sparring session went on for a few hours, starting with M’gann and I going up against two of our teammates. It was clearly frustrating for Wally that we were easily winning, but Robin and Kaldur took it in stride, simply promising to get better, and interested in the potential it showed. When we switched to three on two, M'gann and I struggled, with one particular problem coming up over and over again. Eventually I had had enough and I called a time out.
“Guys, we need to stop.” I said, the computer program running the sparring stopping the clocks. “I need to be able to earthbend. You can feel it too, right M’gann?”
“Yeah, I can. He keeps on having to second guess himself because his instincts say rip up the ground or slam up a stone barrier. It's slowing us both down.”
“Exactly. We aren't going to make any progress if I can’t earthbend.” I explained. “Worse still,eventually I’m going to react badly to a hit neither of us see coming and I'm going to destroy the floor. I'd recommend the grotto but-”
“The what?” Robin and Wally both ask at the same time, the former slapping the latter’s side.
“It's a room down a ways, deeper than everything else in the cave. It's peaceful, mostly untouched too, which means there aren't any pipes or wires anywhere so I can practice my earthbending.” I explained. “But there isn’t enough space for sparring.”
“What about where we sparred?” Kyle asked, looking to M’gann. “Could Bioship fly us there?”
“She could, it might take a bit though, we can't go too fast in the atmosphere.”
“Then let's just leave it.” Wally said with a shrug. “Go up, fly really fast and then come back down.”
“... Yes … that would work.” M’gann said, looking down at the floor blushing a bit. “Sorry, we do that on Mars too but... Well I kinda forgot.”
“It is alright M’gann.” Kaldur assured her. “No one can remember everything all of the time.”
“My question is how did Wally think of it?” Robin asked, looking at Kid Flash, who just shrugged again.
“It's called sub-orbital travel and they do it all the time in science fiction.” He explained.
Robin slapped Wally’s back with a smile before turning to the rest of the group.
“My vote is for taking a trip.”
The rest of the group quickly agreed, including M’gann. With her agreement I nodded as well.
“Alright, I guess we are going to the quarry.”
It didn't take long for the group to pile into Bioship and speed off. Robin messaged Batman to keep him in the loop, though he purposefully left it vague as to why we were traveling to the old quarry.
“How did your conversation with him go by the way?” Robin asked once Batman responded with confirmation.
“It went well.” I explained, everyone turning to listen. “He agreed that it was a decent idea, and that he would back us when we presented it. He also tested me.”
Robin rolled his eyes and huffed, leaning back in his chair.
“He does that all the goddamn time.” he complained. “What did he do? Offer to bribe the League? Offer a bribe if the team did what he ‘suggested’?”
“No, but damn, does he do that kind of stuff to you?”
“Oh go I wish! Bribing would be easy to spot. He is much more subtle when he is testing me.” He answered with a frown. “What did he do?”
“He said that the League would vote on whether or not the team would go in this direction at their next meeting.” I explained. “I told him no, that wasn't how this was going to work. I had to explain how we weren't asking, but telling them what we planned to do, and that the presentation was about convincing the League to help with the idea. Apparently he was testing me how dedicated I was to the idea of truly being independent.”
“Yeah, not surprised. Though good job standing your ground.”
It took a bit longer for us to reach our destination, the old quarry that Superboy and I had had our first spar and where the three relative newbies had our ‘tryouts’. We landed and left the Bioship, walking around for a few minutes, trying to find a good spot. I noticed Wally, Kaldur and Robin sticking together and talking in hushed tones, but figured that they were just talking strategy.
When we finally found a spot we used some of Robin’s spare grappling cord to draw out a huge circle, carving it into the ground and marking it with stones as best we could. When everything was set up we gathered into one group again, Robin returning last,dropping down from a large boulder.
“Alright. I think it's pretty obvious that this is going to be an ‘honor rules’ kind of spar.” I pointed out.
“But what are the actual rules?” Wally asked.
“How about two knockdowns or one out of ring for each person?” M’gann suggested, looking at me.
“We can give that a try.” Kaldur said with a nod. “They might need to be modified but it's a great place to start.”
With the rules tentatively decided we split up. Superboy offered to sit out for now to let the three experienced heroes fight against M’gann and I.
“Beating them will have more of an impact.” He explained. “They don't really have any reference for how good of a fighter I am.”
Once everyone agreed we split into positions on opposite sides of the circle while Kyle counted us down.
“Ready…. And…. fight!”
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