"Instructor?"
If Shane was going to put on an act, he had to commit. After all, he had already decided to have some fun with these kids and see whether they had been slacking off while he was gone.
So he feigned a grim expression and repeated the key word from what Mal had just said.
Fortunately, looking down on others without a trace of expression was the most natural demeanor for a typical Viltrumite. It barely required any acting.
Sure enough, once the Teen Titans saw that their "enemy" might be willing to talk, several of them immediately began scheming.
Jaime, the Blue Beetle, had always been the best at cutting corners. He stepped forward at once, trying to put the quick wit he had always prided himself on to work.
"Uh, yes. I think there must be some kind of misunderstanding between us. After all..."
Jaime waved his arms theatrically to lend his words more weight while glancing back at the others. His faceplate briefly opened, and he frantically signaled them with his eyes.
By the time he turned back, his faceplate had closed again, preventing the other man from reading his microexpressions and easily seeing through his lie.
"We're actually on Instructor Zhent's side. We all greatly admire the Viltrum Empire. This base was built to train an advance force to welcome the empire in the future!"
Shane raised an eyebrow, gesturing with his gaze toward Kara, who lay on the ground, and Tim, who stood rigid a short distance behind Blue Beetle.
"Those two weren't saying anything like that earlier." Blue Beetle showed no embarrassment at having his lie exposed. Instead, he took a few quick steps straight up to Shane.
"That's because the Instructor assessed the situation and determined that Earth wouldn't be so easy