TENEBRIS ~ Young Justice

5 ~ Unnatural Phenomenon

MOUNT JUSTICE
February 28, 09:58 EST

"Are you paying attention?"

"Huh?"

A low hum emanated from the man beside me, and I buried my fingertips into my sore eyelids as I turned to Nightwing. He was staring at me out of the corner of his eye, hands hovering above the levitating keyboard. I was about to respond when he let out a sigh and turned back to one of the computer's multiple screens. The blur of numbers and letters was no match for the cloud of Krolotean hieroglyphics lingering just behind it.

Nightwing had been utilizing all of my free time lately; he'd been more overbearing than usual since our discussion in my bedroom. Most days consisted of the two of us in the Mission Room, standing side by side and watching the computer's programs read through the Krolotean data to match their words to English. Why Nightwing had asked for my help deciphering the information, I had absolutely no idea, seeing as my brain was working at a pace far outmatched by the computer's decoding processes. In my opinion, my attendance was useless, and I would have preferred using my time to do literally anything else.

"You look exhausted," he mumbled.

"I am exhausted." I gestured to the screen of text in front of me. "Not to sound ignorant, but this stuff is giving me a major headache. I'd much rather go over the information the girls brought back from Bialya than make myself sick trying to read this."

"Look, the Martians pulled a lot from Malina Island, and it's too much for me to go through by myself." A notification popped up on the screen to his left, which he dismissed without reading. "You're supposed to be assisting me while you're still on suspension, anyway."

"And I thought you told me I wasn't allowed to use the computer anymore," I muttered under my breath. Nightwing shot me a stern look.

"Unmonitored, which is why I'm not leaving your side until we're finished," he retorted. "And considering that little stunt you pulled, you could be doing something far worse than helping me on a League-level assignment."

"Doesn't do us any good if I can't read."

He sighed. "Adrienne--"

"Decryption completed." Nightwing's eyes widened as the computer's voice rang out, and another notification popped up on the screen in front of us. He quickly scanned the message, whereas I didn't acknowledge it; my eyes burned too badly to try understanding what it said.

"Look, I get that you want to figure out the Malina Island stuff, but if I can help by going through the Bialya information at the same time, then we can kill two birds with one stone." I glared at him with half-lidded eyes when he said nothing. "It's not like you've been communicating any of this to me, anyway. Seriously, what good am I to you when I've just been standing here, watching you try to figure all of this out?"

His expression fell flat, and I saw the tip of his nose twitch with annoyance. "It's not like I can relay anything while it's still in the process of being translated."

I dragged my hand down my face with a huff. "That's literally my point! You know, I can't help feeling you're using this as a means to punish me for--"

"Shh."

Our attention was simultaneously drawn to the hallway in front of us as a pair of voices drifted into the Mission Room. As they grew closer, I recognized Robin and Beast Boy, and my chest tightened. I supposed this was a good point at which to halt our conversation. If the boys hadn't already caught wind of our bickering just a few moments ago, it was best not to further excite their interest.