The next day, after welcoming Blackfire to the group, Greem was in his room cleaning ups his blasters. This is one of his important daily routines to do as a Mandalorian. Cleaning up your weapon is a must and it shows to the other Mandalorians how much you take care of your arsenals as your long life partner.
Scrubbing with a towel to wipe off the dirt, he proceeds to replace the blaster muzzle with a new one. The old muzzle has a burn mark on it and if Greem keeps using it without exchanging it for a new one, he might experience a major dysfunction when firing. Ending the result of getting hurt on your hand. It might give you a scar on your palm. Or it might disintegrate your hand in the worst scenario. He has seen it before back in Mandalore. Comrades losing their limbs due to not taking care of your arsenals. So he fully knows the importance of maintaining your weapon regularly. If you want to fight with an enemy in the best condition.
Once he has taken out the rusty muzzle from the blaster, he wrapped it with a white cloth. He intends to bring it to Cyborg's laboratory so the half mechanic can clean the burnt mark off with ease. The tools at Cyborg's laboratory really Cyborg's tools really helps Greem's needs if he wants to get his weapon a fix or an upgrade. Though Cyborg had asked him before if he can upgrade Greem's armor as well, the Mandalorian declined his offer by explaining the fact that tinkering Mandalorian armor is one of the most difficult things that can be done by a mere armorsmith. It does not mean Cyborg's skill of making new weapons and armor is bad, it just that the earthling's technological skill of crafting armor is not sufficient to meet the Mandalorian's standards.
One of the main reasons for this it's the metal that the Mandalorian armorsmith uses to make an armor is either Duraplast or Durasteel. Both of those metals can commonly be found in the mining outpost, somewhere in the Outer Rim system. Even though Mandalorian armors are famously known to be built in Beskar, one of the rarest metal that can block the lightsaber attack, not many armors can be built with that ingredient ever since the ancient Mandalorian War when a removed Jedi Knight Revan destroyed most of the Mandalorian mining facility in favor of eradicating the source of Beskar and to diminish the Mandalorians war enthusiasm. Because of that, the replacement of Beskar was passed down to the most used metals for making fighters: Duraplast and Durasteel. Greem's armor is made of Durasteel and he knows the long, tensed process of making one. Even including the required patience and skills to repair too. Nobody can fix or create the armor with no knowledge of the art of crafting Mandalorian equipment. It will take years to be able to make one part of the armor on the torso, so that is why he declined Cyborg's offer.
Still, it may give him the chance of studying how the armor is being made, I don't think he could get the right materials and the right textbook on earth to repair it.
Quietly thought to himself as he finished cleaning up the blasters and replacing new parts into his blaster. As he put down the towel on his working bench, he is ready to leave his room to go to Cyborg's place, but before he opens the door, he could Starfire's voice from the outside, calling out her sister's name.
"Sister? Sister? I seek your companionship."
Wondering what Starfire wants to do with Blackfire, he couldn't help but want to get himself involved with the alien sister's personal matters. Cause after listening to Blackfire's story of venturing nearby the Nebula last night, he couldn't shake off his doubts against Blackfire's intention on earth. Because if you fly near the nebula, Draconis Nebula to be specific, the percentage of getting sucked to a countless blackhole is eighty to a hundred. Meaning it is guaranteed to get sucked in those black holes, no matter how much you struggle to get away from.
So how did she not get suck in? Did she find some help from the passerby who happened to be flying around the nebula? If so, who were the rescuers, and why Blackfire didn't come to earth on a spaceship? Cause Greem and the other Titans were outside at the carnival so they could have spotted the spaceship. But the only space object they encountered was a tentacle prod that tried to apprehend Starfire. Could it be...a coincidental arrival along with Blackfire's arrival? And on top of it, listened to her story that only talks about her adventure except learning a few new things about her childhood with her sister Starfire, it is obviousーthough he might be wrongーthere is definitely something wrong going on between the two. He can't tell what it is, but from his experience as a Mandalorian, he can easily tell that the two have a bitter history.
Soon opening his room's door, he approached Starfire with a question. "Starfire, what's the matter? Can't find your sister?"
"Why yes, friend Greem. I have been looking for her everywhere in this tower. I wanted to have our annual "sister-sister bonding" today with her."
Hearing that strange event from Starfire's mouth, he raised his one eyebrow. "There is such an annual event on your home planet Starfire?"
"Why yes." she replied, "Family is important in my world and this time, I cannot miss out on this anniversary. She is always on a go so this is my only chance to spend the occasion with her."
"I see..." Aside from knowing the importance of this Tamaran way of bonding with siblings, he was paying his attention carefully to the last part. His doubt went deeper when he learned one of the facts about Blackfire: Known for being on the go. This could be one of the valuable pieces of information to know more about Blackfire's true color. Whether she really came here to meet with her sister or came here to do something nasty to her...
Hmm...always on a go...wonder why. About to give him a short amount of time to think about it, Starfire called out his name to ask him a favor
"Friend Greem?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you spare your time for me to find my sister? It will be a great help if you assist my search."
"Oh well sure," he replied. "I can help you." I guess it's better to gather some information about her sister through the search. And maybe find the right timing to ask about the relationship... The reason why he thinks is that way cause he doesn't want to break Starfire's heart right now. Telling in front of her face that Blackfire is up to no good. The innocent alien needs some time to embrace the truth if the Mandalorian could find some evidence about Blackfire's suspicious plot. Hopefully, he is wrong about it but relying on his Mandalorian instincts, he got to find out Blackfire's intention as soon as possible.
"Thank you so much friend Greem!" She went in for a hug to give him a full might of "embrace."
Foreshadowing she will crush his backbone, not on purpose, he stepped backed and brought up his hands to stop it. "How about you hug me later when we find her...?" I just don't want to have any back pain again...
"Ah, you are right Greem." she stopped, "Let us waste no time to find her!" And like that, she hovered from the floor and began to fly across the hallway to begin her search. Greem followed behind immediately so he can catch up with her.
In the living room, the two arrived there to see Cyborg and Beastboy playing with their favorite time off: Playing Video Games.
"You may want to pass me," Cyborg taunts, "But you can't! You can't pass me. You will never-"
"Haha! Got you!" Beastboy's expression began to grin when Beastboy's hovercraft passed by Cyborg's hovercraft in a few inches. As you can tell from their conversation, they are playing a racing game that has a Sci-Fi theme; Using a spacecraft to race with each other.
"You passed me..." surprised Cyborg as his disappointing eyes open wide.
"Tighten the jets..." Beastboy tapped the controller buttons rapidly as to perform a special move, "AND BOOST UP THE NITRO! HEE HAA!"
"Grrrrr!" Cyborg's disappointing look slowly turned into frustration as he tried to speed up his racing machine to level up the same speed as Beastboy's.
Starfire and Greem walked towards the couch as Starfire asked the two "buddies-buddies" about Blackfire's whereabouts.
"Cyborg, Beastboy. Tell me. Have either of you seen my sister Blackfire?"
Beastboy answered, "Oh laserbeam?" that's Blackfire's nickname, "She was here just a second ago." And then his face goes to slack down when Cyborg's racing machine passed over Beastboy's reaching machine: By slamming the green mutant's hovercraft to the outside of the rail. A very rough move maybe but it is one way to win this type of game.
"Awww Yeah! I'm back in the lead!" the half mechanic stood up from the couch as he laughed heartily.
"Do you know where she could be?" Greem asked.
"Well, she said she wants to do something with Raven so she must be in Raven's room," Cyborg replied.
"Raven's room?" he tilted his head, "Really? You sure about it?"
"Of course I am. She did say it when we were playing games with her."
"Hmm...I see." A little surprised to know that Raven allowed someone to come into her...forbidden place. No one ever entered her room so it is really strange that Raven would trust someone who is an outsider like Greem. The main difference is that Greem is part of the group but still he was told by others to not go in her room due to the...some complicated situation going on in the room. It piqued his interest in how did Raven begin to trust Blackfire in a day. Just One Day...
Blackfire must have some skills in getting new allies, Greem suspects, That could be the reason why Raven trust her...
Noting to himself about Blackfire's fact in his head, Starfire asked the two if she too can play the game with them as well.
"What fun!" she said, "May I join your game too?"
Couldn't believe a single word that came out from her mouth, Greem looked at her with a questioning look. "Starfire? I thought you want to find her quickly. Not goofing off. Isn't today your important...Tamaran annual family anniversary?"
She replied "Yes. But seeing my dearest friend playing this earthling entertainment, I want to play it too."
About to convince her not to, Cyborg and Beastboy declined her partaking instead.
"Sorry Starfire, Winner plays Blackfire."
"Yeah, she rules at this game."
The two did not have any intention to say awful things about Starfire's poor skill of playing digital pleasure, they clearly indicated that Blackfire is a better game player than Starfire. This discourages Starfire as she let out a sigh. "Oh okay..."
"Just ignore the two Starfire." Greem reassures, "They are just busy with their games right now. They didn't mean you are a bad player. Come on, let's go to Raven's room."
"Okay, Greem..." And thus, they left the living room for Raven's room. They could hear Cyborg's cheer from the living room, letting the search party know that he had won the game. After that, they soon hear an outcry of Beastboy's defeat.
"OHHH BABY! I WON!"
"OHHH COME ON!"
As they were in front of Raven's room, Starfire knocked on the metallic door a few times. The door slides open a few inches as Raven revealed half of her face from the shadow.
"Umm, Hi friend Raven. Is my sister...in there?" Starfire asked nicely.
But Raven said "No." coldly, and was about to close the door slowly so she can resumes...whatever she is doing in her room.
However, Greem stopped the door with his hand and asked if the goth sorceress knows Blackfire's whereabouts. "Then do you know where she is heading? This is important for Starfire because today it's her 'sister-sister bonding' day." He looked into her eyes, showing a small sense of assertiveness to get the information they need. Normally, you would not dare to show any forceful behavior against Raven cause she is...the most difficult person to handle when she feels irritated by her friend's disturbance. Like when Beastboy made a lot of jokes to make the goth laugh, she would just slap him away with her magic so she can have a moment of peace. Since then, he learned his lesson to not disturb her time of meditation.
However, Greem is not a passive type of person to be afraid of her. Sure, he didn't want her to find out about his history on Mandalore. But that's a different story. When he wants the job to be done by whatever means necessary, he would not hesitate to show his aggressive attitude. Even to a very specific person, he has an awareness of weakness to deal with.
Seeing how determined he is from Raven's perspective, she sighed and replied to them that she had gone to the training room to train with Robin.
So Starfire thanked Raven's help and asked her if Raven would like to go to Raven's favorite cafe with her after the annual sister bonding. But again, she said no and she already went there with Blackfire. She even praised Blackfire's taste of dark and gloomy poetry. This could mean that she likes Blackfire's literature better than Starfire's.
She understands and looked down for a minute. But soon flew towards the training room so she could get to Blackfire immediately. Greem was about to go there too but was stopped by Raven when his shoulder was grabbed by the sorceress. He looked back and received a warning from her.
"Don't do that again." said coldly once more.
"Or what?" he asked.
"Or I'll...do something worse to you than Beastboy. Disturb me again during my meditation, I will skin you alive..." Her monotone speech adds a threatening sound when she dragged the last sentence. Surely it will scare him off when she says it.
But Greem didn't feel any fear from her as he accepts a warning as a reminder in his head. "Okay. But I can't promise. I might do it again next time." And he walked away to the training room.
Surprised to see that he didn't flinch a bit from her warning, she still looks behind his back as his figure went smaller and smaller in a distance. And after that, she went back to her room to do some meditating. Wonder what she thinks of Greem right now after knowing him he is different from the other members of the group...?
Once they reached the training room, they saw Robin practicing his new move. He was punching and kicking against the sandbag with a new martial art skill he recently learned from "someone". Starfire entered the room and called out the boy wonder's name.
"Robin."
"Oh hey, Starfire." he looked back as he stopped punching the sandbag. "I didn't notice you were here."
"We just came here not too long ago," she replied. "Greem and I were looking for my sister Blackfire. Raven told us that...she was here." She looked around the room but couldn't find her sister at all.
"She already left and headed somewhere else after we practiced with each other's fighting style." Robin answered, "And I got to say, your sister really knows how to pull an aggressive attack. How come you never taught me one of your cool alien martial arts?"
"Umm...well, it's because-"
"Also, Blackfire told me that you were...not a good fighter? Is that true too...?"
"..."
"Umm...Starfire...? Are you okay...?" he goes to her but Greem got in the way. The Mandalorian looked at the Boy Wonder...with a look of disbelief. The disbelief of hearing such words from Robin's mouth. Words that look harmless to you but could be deadly for others like a hidden knife from your back pocket.
"Greem...? What are you doing...?" But of course, Robin doesn't know it at all cause he is too dense of noticing the innocent alien's feeling. And being the apprentice of the world's greatest detective in the city where you have to be aware every time, whenever there is something wrong or not, he is too...slow to pick up.
"...I think you had enough of...liking Blackfire...too much. We were looking for her because today...it's Starfire's annual 'sister-sister bonding' day. And I guess...she never mentioned it to you...did she?" asked Greem.
"...No she hasn't."
This made Starfire even sadder as she flies away from the training room. The two could hear her sobbing as a trail of tears can be seen from her eyes. Of course, Robin wanted to go after her but Greem wasn't finished with him as he grabbed the Boy Wonder's shoulder.
"Greem! Let me go! I need to-"
"No. You don't. I suggest you need to...think carefully about what you did just now."
"Think about what I did? What do you-"
"You are the detective right?" Greem asked, "Then you should know already by then: How important this Tamaran annual bonding day for her." He let go of him as he went to search for Starfire. But before he leaves the room, he looked back at him and said, "Also, you should at least suspect Blackfire's arrival...There is something going on with her..."
Robin didn't say a word as he stood there with his mouth shut. And soon after, Greem left behind the training room. He went to every floor to find Starfire. Her room, the garage, and everywhere. But there is one area that he hadn't search yet. And that is the roof. So he went up to the room and found Starfire, sitting on the rooftop. He slowly walks to her and sits next to her. He looked at her face and could see the marks of her tears on the cheek. He opened his mouth and asked her if she is okay.
"...Starfire. You okay?"
She replied, "Yes...I am fine friend Greem..." But she didn't look back at him when she answered.
"...It must be shocking to know that she...didn't remember it at all..." Greem said, "How could she do that to her sibling..."
"Actually, this isn't the first time she has forgotten..."
He widens his eyes, "It isn't?"
Starfire nods. "Back on my home planet Tamara, she was always like this...Late to come to my birthday parties, forget to give me a present and even...didn't save me from the...Gordanians..."
"Oh...I see..." he looked in front as he felt so sorry for her. He could not bear to look at her sad face anymore.
"I thought she has changed when she came here...I thought she finally...cares about me as her beloved sister..."
"But she hasn't."
"Yeah..." She goes to bury her face in her arms to cover her tears from Greem. She didn't want him to see her crying right now.
But the Mandalorian couldn't help as he hooks his arm around her. He brings her close to him so she could feel the warm-hearted embrace from him. She was a little surprised to be hugged by him but she didn't mind it at all. It felt so warm when you have a friend who truly understands your feeling. It gives you both comfort and assuredness that there is always someone who can relate to your pain. And of course, Greem knows the pain very well when he was still in the Death Watch group.
"I know how hard it is to not be accepted as a family member..."
"You do?"
"Yeah...Back on Mandalore. I tried my best to be welcome by them that I am worthy to be part of the clan...but they just scorned me as if I was a black sheep..."
"But aren't black sheep equally the same as the white sheep?"
He quietly giggled at her cute, naive opinion. "No, no. Black sheep means an outcast. An outsider to understand easily."
"Oh...I see."
"Yeah...So I know...what's like to be ignored by your family member...It's difficult. Really difficult." And the two just sat there on the rooftop, looking at the scenery as their bond grew deeper. As close friends. Or...more like an actual brother and sister type of relationship.