Red Tornado

As he walked past the kitchen Red Tornado paused, remembering what he had heard an hour ago when he had last walked by. Though he knew the team had been in there enjoying a meal together, there had been barely any discernible sounds. It hadn't been the first time Red Tornado had noticed the silence, but now was the first time he had stopped for more than a few seconds to analyze it. According to his database on human culture, meal times were generally noisy affairs. Humans got together and talked about how their day was, who they saw, and what they did. Really, humans discussed almost anything from politics to science to art. Which is why he didn't understand how, as mealtimes together at the Mountain got more and more frequent, the young heroes spoke less and less. It was as if spending more time together meant they didn't need to speak as much. It didn't fit with his understanding of human culture and Red Tornado was truly puzzled.

His first hypothesis when confronted with the event had been anger. If he understood correctly, sometimes humans did not speak with another when angered. That hypothesis had quickly been discarded though, and he had almost forgotten about the puzzling behavior. Aside from the lack of verbal communication the team behaved as they always had. They ate, played, relaxed, and fought together in the same manner as before, all nonverbal cues present but the verbal ones clearly absent.

Now, Red Tornado stopped to allow his mind to process another idea. He quickly set aside his knowledge of human culture, recognizing that the young heroes were outside the normal behaviors exhibited by humans their age, instead focusing on what he knew about each hero individually. His mind processed the information faster than any human, and most computers, were able to - stopping when it came to M'gann. Telepathic powers were one of the many abilities he knew M'gann possessed, and it explained everything.

For a few brief nanoseconds Red Tornado was satisfied with his conclusion, but then he felt uncertain. Realizing he was experiencing the emotion humans called curiosity he brought the question back up. (I only solved the how, not the why). But could he solve why they communicated telepathically? He had no experience with telepathic conversation, as he had no brain. His knowledge in the field was extremely limited as well. He brought up a hypothesis for the second part of his question - perhaps communicating telepathically was more pleasant - but it was discarded quickly. The League almost never took advantage of that particular Martian ability. His next idea was privacy, but that was also discarded. While the team's conversations may be private from everyone else, as far as he knew their every word was heard by the rest of them. Perhaps they were trying to keep secrets from the League? Red Tornado dismissed that as unlikely. They were their usual talkative selves with the League and their behavior did not suggest secrecy.

He ran through scenario after scenario in his mind, none of them fitting the situation. He simply could not discern why they would prefer to speak within their own minds instead of aloud. Eventually though, he came up with a plausible reason. Distance. Telepathic conversation was not hindered by distance as much as regular speech, allowing the team to communicate much more. It fit, and was a very logical solution, but some part of Red Tornado suggested that this was not a problem that could be solved by logic. Besides, there was still the problem of mealtimes. At mealtimes there was no distance at all and yet that was where the silence was most noticeable. They were right next to each other. Why did they not talk aloud?

Perhaps, as with the human emotion love, there was no logical reasoning behind their actions. Perhaps it had to do with love. He had once heard the team refer to themselves as a family, and families were supposed to love one another. Perhaps, he thought, perhaps that was the reason. It was by no means logical and if Red Tornado had not been learning about human emotions, had not been trying to be more human himself, then he would never have reached a conclusion.

He decided to check on the team, moving through the kitchen to the living room where the TV was playing. It was on mute however, and the team was on the floor surrounding a board game. He watched as Conner, about to move a piece, was nudged silently by Robin, who nodded in the direction of the board. No doubt Robin, an excellent strategist and detective, was helping his fellow teammate. M'gann gave him a quick wave but, though he was sure they noticed his presence, the rest of the heroes were too engrossed in the game to greet him immediately. Superboy finally made his move and, together, the team looked up, turning to greet him.

They asked if he wanted to join them but he declined. "I was merely curious," he told them, "why do you not use verbal communication?"

Some of them seemed confused by his phrasing but he knew he did not need to explain, understanding was already dawning on their faces, the ever present telepathic link helpful as always. Still, the team seemed uncertain, as if not even they knew why they didn't speak aloud. They exchanged multiple glances, perhaps attempting to determine an answer, but could not find one.

Eventually Robin shrugged. "It just seems right." The team nodded in agreement.

"It feels so weird when I leave," Wally chimed in, "I'm just used to having others in my head."

"It does not bother you?" Red Tornado asked. "Is it not an invasion of privacy?"

The team exchanged glances again. "There are no secrets among us," Conner stated firmly.

Red Tornado stared at them. Love was a strange emotion indeed.