Brainy frowned at the five heroes standing before him, dubious. "So you are saying that you would not make any sound or particular noise for 24 hours if I use my intelligence to help you with some sort of… plan?"
The Triplicates, Bouncing Boy and Lightning Lad nodded enthusiastically.
Brainy thought for a minute. "Thank you, but no."
The Purple Triplicate pouted "Come on, Brainy, take one for the team. You don't even know our plan yet!"
"There is another option of persuasion..." Lightning Lad smirked. "C'mon Trips, like we practiced!"
The White one began to sing at an extremely high, annoying pitch. When she paused for breath, another Triplicate would take over until the continuous whining was enough to make anyone cringe.
Brainy clutched his ears. "All right, fine. But the day of no noise starts now," he said, glaring at them.
The 'persuaders' carefully observed Brainy's response as Bouncing Boy described their devious plan. Even Brainy felt grudging respect for what the conspirators were planning to do.
Hearing footsteps, they glanced up in time to spot a very irritated Superman come into view. "There are Pros," he started, "and Cons of having super hearing; I think I've just discovered another Con." He glared at the Triplicates.
Lightning Lad had the decency to look apologetic. "Sorry, we were just trying to get Brainy's help for our plan."
Superman's curiosity was aroused. "I'm a little short on details, here. What plan?"
"Getting Brin and Tinya to go on a date!" Bouncing Boy said excitedly.
"A…date?" Superman said dumbly.
"A date, to make an arrangement with -preferably- a person to meet socially or, a dark oval single-stoned fruit. I think we can assume it's not the fruit?" Brainy said witheringly.
"Um yeah, sorry. Do they know about this?" Superman asked, scratching his head and looking confused.
Garth smacked his forehead. "That's why we call it a plan, steel head!"
"So what did you have to do to gain Brainy's cooperation?" Superman asked.
"They have to keep absolutely quiet for a whole day starting… now. It is 4:30:12 pm." Brainy said; was that a trace of a smirk on his face?
Brainy went around collecting the Legionnaires' flight rings to work on them. (A whole day of almost complete silence! Lately, it seemed to be something he only dreamed of…) He also planned to work on several projects in the headquarters he had put aside to 'upgrade' (more like fix). After all, much of Legion HQ had been trashed several times.
Meeting Timber Wolf on the way to the lounge, Brainy asked Timber Wolf for his flight ring. Brin readily complied, and Brainy turned to leave.
"Brin? I think, since it's so quiet, today would be a good time to make that Soufflé you wanted to bake."
Timber Wolf looked baffled, then shrugged. If the soufflé didn't work for him today, at least he could blame the resident brain.
--
Unbeknownst to Brainy, the conspirators had completely deserted headquarters, mainly because they didn't trust themselves to keep silent for an entire 24 hours. Also, they had a few things that they needed to prepare for their infamous 'plan'.
Meanwhile, Brainy was in his lab constructing a lead alloy for all the rings. For some time now, he had been concerned that if any of the Legionnaires accidentally broke their ring, he/she would fall out of the sky. Finally, he placed the alloy over the last ring, finished; He breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the time. 5:00 AM, it read. He decided that he could sleep now even though it was a bit early.
However, at 10:00 am that very same day; he was up and working on one of his many projects. "Six hours of silent bliss," he thought happily.
--
"Wow, Brainy was right," Brin thought to himself. "For some reason, everything seems to be quiet around here."
He put the soufflé into the oven and waited patiently for it to rise. Tinya crept up behind Brin, but he simply glanced over his shoulder with a smirk. "You know, without your flight ring, you don't do sneaking very well."
Tinya sighed, jumping up to sit on the counter "How did you know?"
"Because I'd know that smell anywhere," Brin thought. "I heard your footsteps from almost 15 feet away," he replied smugly.
She just stuck out her tongue at him.
"Oh, so mature," he thought, rolling his eyes and motioned her to be quiet. He carefully took his soufflé out of the oven.
Phantom girl's eyes widened, and she leaned forward. "Now that's a beautiful soufflé" she whispered.
"Care to try some?" he asked softly, partly from not wanting his creation to spoil and partly because Tinya was so close to him.
She got out a couple of plates and spoons. Timber Wolf smiled faintly when she tried some and grinned. Maybe he would make some again… he liked it when she smiled.
Superman heard a knock on his door and opened it to Brainy, who was making his rounds to return the Legionnaires' flight rings. "Here, I'll help you," Superman offered after he had received his ring
After they had finished, they went to the kitchen for a drink and Superman couldn't help but ask. "Hey, um, when do we… y'know…"
Brainy sighed, he had already been asked that question several times earlier when he gave Lightning Lad and his fellow conspirators their flight rings. Their answer was the same one he gave Superman: wait until 4:30:12 pm.
"…Which is in approximately one hour, thirty minutes and fifteen seconds." Brainy said firmly.
--
Luornu, Chuck and Clark were gathered in Garth's room waiting for the man of the hour. Brainy arrived punctually, as usual, and the five of them quickly got down to business.
"So the plan is this: Brin will get a message from Brainy saying he's needed in the park wearing civilian clothes, because he's required to go on a blind date to join ties with some political party." Chuck said.
"Tinya will get the same thing, only from her mother telling her that she needs to go on a blind date because she needs to 'meet more guys.'" Garth chuckled.
"So where do I come in?" Brainy asked, looking unimpressed.
Luornu looked sheepish "We, um, forgot to book the reservations for the restaurant. Other than that, your job is to make sure everything goes smoothly as we kinda' look conspicuous."
Brainy rolled his eyes and hooked himself in a nearby computer. "There; the reservations are at 7:30 pm at the Jade Fountain."
"Thanks Brainy, let's do it!" Clark said happily.
--
Brin sighed. He absolutely hated politics, and Brainy hadn't been very sympathetic. The worst part was having to wear a Tux; his only hope was that this blind date didn't involve some whiny clingy girl who was repulsed at the sight of him.
Tinya sighed in frustration; her mother absolutely insisted on her going to this stupid date. She really hoped he wasn't one of those whiny boring 'talk your ears off' guys. Her mother had winked and promised her a fun night. The worst part was the fact that she had to wear a dress! Oh well, at least it was black.
When the two saw each other, their eyes widened simultaneously.
"No way!" both thought wonderingly.
Brin broke the silence first. "I assume you're the politics girl?"
"Yeah, I mean, wow! Who would have thought, huh?" Tinya grinned.
"Brainy's so gonna get it," Brin thought, scowling when Tinya wasn't looking.
Brainy cringed, catching Brin scowling, "Probably thinking of 101 ways to kill me. Still, he owes me for the soufflé." He thought, from his hiding place behind strategically placed foliage.
--
"What's our status?" Garth's voice crackled from the com.
"They are in the Jade Fountain, eating and chatting about something. It looks as though they're enjoying themselves." Brainy answered tartly.
Tinya grinned. She never got Brin to herself, and she was actually enjoying herself! Now she was glad she'd worn the dress. And who knew that Brin would look so good in a Tux?
Brin found himself relaxing, just talking to Tinya; she looked great in that dress. He himself was glad he'd actually gone through with the Tux… maybe he wouldn't have to kill Brainiac 5 after all.
Brainy was counting on the smells from the restaurant to block his own scent; carefully he carried out reconnisance. He spotted several hairs in one of the soups and quickly alerted a staff member. They got it out just in time, and none of the customers ever heard of it. After that, things were quiet, until…
'Click', "I can't believe it! This would make a great cover story!" Brainy heard someone whisper to himself.
He glanced around suspiciously and caught sight of a reporter. The reporter was hiding a camera and taking non-flash photographs now and then of Timber Wolf and Phantom Girl.
Brainy didn't know how to get the camera without being seen, so he bided his time.
Finally, Brin and Tinya walked out, the reporter on their heels and Brainiac 5 on the reporter's heels. The inconspicuous parade continued all the way back to Legion HQ.
Tinya stopped just outside the door and blushed, glancing up at Brin. "Thanks, y'know, for a great night. I had fun."
"Me too," Brin replied. Was it getting hot out here?
Then suddenly Flash! The reporter snapped a picture and turned around to flee, only to be stopped by Brainy. Grabbing him, Brainy frowned. "You don't want to do that," he said, his voice a deadly calm.
The man shook his head "N-n-no. I'll d-d-delete them now."
"Let me save you the trouble," Brin said from behind the reporter.
They looked up and the man gulped. Brin took the camera and smashed it. "Would you look at that?" he said with mock-innocence. "Your poor camera got broken."
After the reporter had hastily retreated, Brin and Tinya demanded an explanation from poor Brainy.
Brainy explained and very soon, Chuck, Clark, Garth, Querl and Luornu were assembled before a very annoyed looking couple.
"Let me get this straight, you set us up for a date, asked Brainiac 5 to get us reservations and…" Brin started.
"Well, you can't deny you didn't have fun." Garth cut in.
The couple blushed.
"You guys were made for each other, why don't you just kiss or something? Otherwise, you guys shouldn't make it so obvious you like each other!" Garth snapped.
Slowly Brin and Tinya turned to look at the other, too proud, too afraid of what the other might think to make any moves.
Suddenly, Brin looked away and grinned wickedly "Nice try. We'll give you five seconds to run."
Tinya smirked at Brin. "What, getting soft?" she teased.
As they chased after their teammates both quelled their feelings of disappointment. "Maybe next time," they thought hopefully.
--
Thanks for reading. And extra special thanks to Brainiac5 for beta-ing this for me, she/he really helped a lot.