Chapter Title: Toxic
Word Count: 1,783
Italics indicate spoken Tamaranean.
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The tension in the air was unwelcome at best, but Robin did what little he could to ignore it as he focused on the next tournament challenge being laid out in front of them. They had arrived early, far earlier than necessary, as neither wanted to remain in the stale air that suffocated Starfire's quarters after the afternoon's events.
Admittedly he'd have rather seen what could have happened if they remained uninterrupted in the cave. But wishes remained like water droplets on this planet – far and few.
Weapons were laid on a table by Tamaranean's in protective gear who seemed unusually anxious. Simultaneously several crates were lined up on the field; the hum of what lie inside remained a mystery to the boy wonder as he racked his brain to place the sounds.
For the first time he noted a new group of Tamaranean's join the field contained within a protective sphere and wearing what appeared to be the equivalent of hazmat suits. He debated asking Starfire about it, but ended up deciding all would be clarified soon enough.
When the 20 remaining competitors took to the field Robin carefully studied the man with the covered face. The woman in heels still seemed to be the deadliest, but her visibility reassured Robin somehow; she was known if only because she could be identified off the field. Contrarily, the masked man could slip into a crowd and never be seen again.
The annoyed sigh from his right let him know he'd been staring too long.
"His eyes are visible and clearly Tamaranean." Starfire muttered answering Robin's unasked question.
"The bandages are odd though," Robin insisted justifying his distrust.
"Our warriors fight. Our enemies do not have the reserve that many on Earth have. Disfigurements happen, missing facial components happen. It is normal here." Starfire assured offhandedly. Clearly this would be another fixation of Robin's mind and she did not feel like engaging in full debate so publicly.
"How can you trust him when you don't even know who he is?" Robin pressed with paranoia building.
"I assure you that he is no concern." Starfire flatly answered trying her best to squelch Robin's fixation.
"But-" Robin began to protest.
"No. I trusted you when we met though I did not know you. I can assure you he is not behind the strangeness happening. Now you must trust me and cease this petulant inquiry." Starfire curtly interjected.
She was at the edge of her patience today. Some of her annoyance built from the fact that when she had come to Earth she had accepted change despite certain things being against every fiber of her being. She ate with cutlery, she wore clothing regularly – even privately should someone stumble into her quarters and be so appalled at her bare form – and she did not kill despite feeling it was justified sometimes. Survival depended on adaptation so she had adapted.
And Robin was not adapting.
But he had insisted on staying, and his constant questioning of her planets norms and morays brought her agitation.
Luckily for the pair, today's tournament would prove to be worthy of their attention.
The competitors took to the field though their demeanor lacked the confidence that usually accompanied the fearsome group of contenders. Undoubtedly nervous eyes glanced over the table of weapons and only then did Robin realize what today's test would entail.
"This was part of your lessons?" Robin exclaimed curiously.
"Important, is it not?" Starfire replied willing the annoyance to leave her tone. He seemed more impressed than judgmental so she could at least work with this.
"I get why you read so many Agatha Christie novels from Raven's collection…" Robin smirked. Maybe the fight could be on pause, or better yet maybe he could use this new challenge to move past the bitter wall that had been slowly building between them. Granted he knew their agreeability wouldn't last long past their public appearance without further effort on his part. Starfire could at times be petty and hold grudges, but he wasn't without faults all his own and his continued paranoia and questioning of her judgment on her own people was bound to strike nerves.
"poisons and toxins are worth studying and experts are worth learning from, though I still am surprised at how fragile humans are...cyanide is barely an irritant to Tamaranean children and yet it seems to readily take life from any human." Starfire mused.
"So what're the competitor's facing today?" Robin asked curiously.
"Mostly the markings of harmless ink of the blorka tree for those who fail to identify the proper poisons or disarm dangerous creatures, but the weapons do present an actual challenge." Starfire slyly grinned.
The now open crates revealed mechanical copies of the locust like creatures that had attacked them earlier in the week, a crate of creatures that resembled beefy looking miniature lizards, and a third crate with tiny, fluffy little wisps.
"So the third crate has the worst creatures?" Robin half joked at the puff ball appearance of the creatures in the third crate.
"Undoubtedly yes; they rapidly divide when threatened and exude an allergen that has anaphylactic properties to any Tamaranean near enough." Starfire cautioned "Though these have been genetically modified to be harmless and emit a spray of ink."
"Noted." Robin weakly replied.
In a moment the field rapidly deteriorated to chaos. All at once the abundance of lizard creatures evacuated their crates and beelined for the wide-eyed competitors. Scrambling over one another the competitors made their way to the weapons table where they froze up once more. Even previously near-flawless competitors seemed tripped up at the table and stood gawking and uncertain.
The beefy looking miniature lizards moved in a swarm across the dirt of the arena. A light blue mist followed in the air and dust kicked up behind them.
"They emit venom when excited."
Starfire's comment caught Robin off guard as he had been too heavily engrossed in the reactions of the competitors to notice the fluster of short legs now nearing the table of competitors.
A man hopped onto the table as an evasion attempt and almost immediately fell off clutching his leg in pain. He tossed his armband into the air and the bubble of hazmat suit encased aliens moved quickly to his aid to remove him from the field and into the protection of the bubble.
The smarter among the competitors began carefully and painstakingly sniffing the hilt on each weapon in an effort to find a safe bet all the while hurridly fending off the approaching creatures with range eyebeam attacks and flight.
"What are they looking for?" Robin asked curiously.
"The weapons contain salves that irritate, burn, or invade the bloodstream. Each is tagged with a scent. In order to complete the challenge they must be able to grab a weapon that is harmless. Antidotes are available to those who fail, but failing to grab a weapon or selecting a harmful weapon are also a forfeiture of the tournament." Starfire explained mildly.
It was almost instantaneously obvious when a competitor grabbed a weapon as to whether they were safe or eliminated as the pain from ill-chosen gear was fast-acting and took even tough competitor's down swiftly. The beefy lizard like creatures had gotten distracted after their initial charge by an arrangement of rocks at the end of the arena and the puffball like creatures seemed to drift like jellyfish throughout the air so now avoidance wasn't difficult while the competitors made their selections. When 12 competitors had safely chosen weapons it was like a switch flipped on the creatures, as the mechanical locust were released. Suddenly the puffballs had direction, the lizards were without distraction and the locust were full on swarming all at the small circle of remaining contenders.
A dust kicked up over the arena making visibility impossible for several minutes and when it cleared the challenge was over. Blue marks ranged in scale over the 12 competitors standing and Starfire made her way to the field to assess the lineup for final scoring. Ink placement was a large determinant in final ranking as an external limb could be severed if need be in a real battle, but torsos could not.
In the end 2 more competitors were eliminated for what would have been considered a battlefield death outside of a controlled arena leaving just 10 to vie for the throne.
Robin noted that the masked man and woman in heels remained in the running. At least he would be able to keep an eye on them for now assuming no more death threats arrived at Starfire's door. Pushing his earlier desire for normalcy between himself and Starfire aside, he set intentions for some nighttime surveillance of the targets in question.
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The midnight silence seemed the perfect time to venture out for recon. He'd mentally mapped the castle over the past several weeks and had a feel for where the competitor's quarters would be and without Starfire's protections he would have to execute extreme caution as to not get caught and intercepted. Soundlessly he removed himself from the shared bed in her quarters and made his way to the doorway on nimble feet. Before he could open the door, glowing green eyes rose up in front of him.
"Did you think I would not notice?"
And suddenly he was sputtering nonsense, just as awkward and helpless as he'd been when she confronted him in the past.
A slight humph let him know she was unimpressed with his attempts at answers.
"I'm sorry Star, I just don't trust the masked man." Robin finally managed something coherent.
"You are also a masked man." Starfire pointed out bluntly.
"It's different for me. I'm protecting my identity on Earth." Robin defended.
"And yet we are no longer on Earth and still you wear the mask." Starfire shrugged indifferently.
She'd boxed him into a corner. Quickly trying for a tactic change he asked the question that had been nagging at the back of his mind all tournament…
"Why are you so defensive of him?"
The question seemed to catch her off guard. Glowing eyes slowly shut in the dark as she thought about how to respond before simply sighing and answering.
"Because he is my brother."
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Sorry it's been a bit. I can't promise frequent updates as work/holidays/running/home keep me busy and my free time has been spent working on a YA novel that I'd like to be attempting to publish by next summer and it's been really hard to switch mental gears from that. But I will do what I can.
-FWFT