Vigilante Volleyball

Achievement: Team acquired

Dick is sitting on Bruce's mahogany desk, worrying his lip.

"We just want you to get involved with an extracurricular for your first year of high school. If you decide you hate it, we'll try something else, but please try it first."
He was pleading.
Damian pressed his lips into a flat line.

"We have discussed the dangers of physical exams in the past-"

"Then you can do art, or we can fake some paperwork. It's more important you learn people skills." Bruce said, face a stone mask. Dick elbowed him in the ribs. "Please." He added.

"I will walk around after school and see what they have."

Dick beamed at him, and Bruce nodded once. "That's all I ask."

So Damian went to school.

He doesn't draw attention to himself, and mostly works on his own, allowing him to work on whatever he wants during class time. His teachers suspect, of course, but his grades are flawless, so they can't really do much.

He twirls his pencil around his knuckles and thinks of a cold case that had been bothering him until the bell rings. True to his word, he stayed in the library until everyone except the after-school clubs were gone, and picked a random direction.

The hall he had chosen led to the secondary gym. The main gym was mostly for basketball and classes, the other clubs were either outdoors or shared the secondary gym. He goes in, idly curious to see what sport they were playing.

It was Volleyball. He stood to the side, watching the ball and trying to recall the rules.

Once he was confident he remembered the game correctly, he surveyed the players. Wasted motion, poor awareness of their center of gravity, obvious tells in where they were hitting the ball, but above all, they weren't taking it very seriously.

It irked him. There was no reason for him to be annoyed that this random team isn't taking the game seriously, but he couldn't help the nagging sensation if they didn't take it seriously they would get hurt.

Damian presses his lips into a thin line watching them, and the Coach must notice him watching, because he comes over.

"Hey! Want to help out?" He's a portly man, wearing a whistle and a ball cap, holding a clipboard. The jog over seems to have winded him slightly, and Damian's lips curl back in disgust.

"Since you so obviously need it." Damian takes the clipboard and puts his fingers in his mouth to whistle.

The team looks startled by the sight of him, still in a perfectly creased uniform, holding the coach's clipboard in the gym. The coach is even more so, still trying to figure out how he took the clipboard without him noticing.

"My family has been pestering me about extracurriculars and your coach is obviously incompetent, so I will be taking over." The coach reels back, and the team looks uncomfortable.

"We'll start with what I've seen so far," He continues, unperturbed. "Center of gravity and balance, technique and eliminating wasted motion, and general flexibility."

He flips over the paper, which had a court drawn on it and barely any notes, and starts writing. "In fact, I'll need you to run some baseline athletics so I know what I'm working with." He looks at the teacher. "Raise the nets please, we'll need the whole space."

As the teacher numbly follows his instructions, he turns back to the team, who range from slightly uncomfortable to terrified. "Line up on this line, and every other person starting here take a step back." He points to a line across from him and moves a frazzled looking girl by the shoulders. They figure it out, leaving him a nice staggered square.