Further Training
"Ok, today we will be working on training outside the physical realm!" Black Canary called to all the teenage heroes surrounding her.
"Like mental training?" M'gann asked brightly, thinking of being able to use her telepathy.
"Yes, but not using telepathy and such. I'm talking about day to day thinks, things you might have learned at home or even picked up on the streets. Things that a situation might require. You might need to know how to use an advanced computer system, or a stick shift. You might have to speak another language or fake a persona," and the senior hero couldn't help but glance at the Boy Wonder as her eyes roamed over the small crowd before her.
"Today we'll start with foreign languages," she said, causing Robin to cackle much to everyone's surprise, "Follow me," she called as she turned and led the team down a hallway.
The team entered a conference type room with a round table in the middle and chairs surrounding it. They each took a seat with Black Canary standing above to see everyone.
"Let's start by listing all the languages you are fluent in or are learning," she said, looking at Wally who was directly to her left.
"Well, um, English of course, and I'm learning Spanish in school, and I learned a little bit of Latin in grade school if that counts," he said with an impish shrug.
"Oh, lets see," M'gann began with a bright smile, "I know Martian and English, and I learned a little bit of Spanish from the earth tv shows, and I'm learning Latin in school right now, but I'm confused because of coming in the middle of the year."
"I'm sure you're doing fine," Black Canary said reassuringly when she saw the martian's downcast face at being so behind in school.
"Why does it even matter?" Superboy said gruffly, glaring at the older woman with his arms crossed over his chest in a defiant position.
"Why does it matter?" the older hero asked, looking at the others in the room.
"Well, it helps knowing the language of the people you interact with," Kadlur said, thinking back to when he didn't know English.
"Ya, especially if you get lost," Wally said, "Like once, I accidently got stuck in Asia somewhere, didn't have a clue as to what they were saying. Finally I just took some food to refuel and zipped out of there. Scary, not knowing," the teen said with a shudder, remembering all the foreign voices yelling and talking to him.
"It can't hurt to know some language if you are taking on another person," Artemis said in her raspy voice, "Helps to through people off if you start talking in another language," she said with a smirk.
"Like Wally was saying, it helps with flat out communicating," the Boy Wonder concluded, smirk on his face, though his eyes showed his misery at the memory of not understanding those around him. He was only eight, a little Romani kid that didn't know English in juvie all cause the orphanage was full.
"Do you understand, Co-" Black Canary began, looking down at the always angry raven haired teen.
"English, Spanish, French, and I was beginning to learn Latin from Cadmus," he growled out, cutting the older woman off.
"I know only Atlantian and English," Kaldur continued, trying to break some of the tension in the room.
"I'm fluent in English and Vietnamese, and I know some Spanish and am learning French in school," Artemis listed, looking at the table so no one would ask her about Vietnamese. The team looked at their youngest member who seemed to be zoning off.
"Robin?" Black Canary asked, gaining his attention.
"Sorry, was thinking," the teen acrobat said, "Um let's see, what am I fluent in? Hmmmm, English of course and of course Romanian, and Spanish and French, those are essential. And Russian, Japanese, and Chinese. Does sign language count? Cause there's that and I'm learning Mandarin and an alien language, it's not martian though."
"What." Artemis asked, eyeing the boy.
"Dude, are you a robot or something?" his red haired best friend asked, poking him to see if his flesh was real.
"Protégé of Batman," the Boy Wonder deadpanned.
"What do you take in school?" M'gann asked curiously.
"Same as you, Latin," the ebony haired vigilante replied, "I guess I know Latin too, then, but I mean it's the foundation for French and Spanish so it's super easy. And if we're going by that, they I could get by in Portugal or Brazil, I mean Portuguese is closest to a mix of French, Spanish, and Italian. I guess I could get by in a lot of languages," the youngest team member concluded, grin on his face.
"I thought you said you knew Italian," Wally wondered, realizing that his friend hadn't listed that as one of his languages.
"I don't count that," the bird said with a smirk, "If I were to count that then so can Artemis, you can pick up more than a few colorful words in the streets of Gotham, what with mob bosses running in the slums and what not."
"HA!" Artemis barked out, laughing, "Not just Italian, I can curse like a sailor in Spanish, French, and Russian just by repeating words tossed around the street," this got a high five from the Boy Wonder and the two grinned at each other, grinning in the thought of living in Gotham where people get mugged and killed on the way home from work.
"Okay, okay, so now that we have established the languages we know, we can begin to work on some basics," Black Canary said, grabbing everyone's attention, "Instead of me teaching like school, I want you all to vote on a language to learn and have someone who knows it teach the basics."
"So we're in agreeance that it will be Robin?" Wally deadpanned, grin on face as he turned to his best friend.
"HEY!" the Boy Wonder cried, looking at his friend in horror.
"Agreed!" Artemis called, speaking over the younger boy and raising her hand as though swearing and oath.
"So not feeling the aster," the young acrobat grumbled as he stood up, ushering Black Canary out of the room, so he could start his 'lesson'. But did the team really think this through? The protégé of Batman teaching? Maybe not the best choice.
Sorry that was a little short, but just wanted this out there and couldn't think of anything more to add! Please review!
And I'll be adding some more chapters about other 'mental' lessons they will have. The topics will be: math/science, computer/tech, and voice acting. Any other ideas!
Review with an idea! Love yall, God bless! -C