The twelve potential bodyguards were separated by partitions, and given a table with three glasses of water, five dishes and two desserts. They all looked the same, which made it impossible to identify the poison's root through the visible eye. They were to differentiate which of each were poisoned, no matter what they did.
They all look identical, Fang thought. If I try to consume it, it'll affect me in later tests.
Fang had spent his life under Kaizo's training. He did spent years telling apart poison and edibles. This was no exception. He had seen almost every type of poison that the universe had to offer.
Thunderstorm was in a similar situation. He knew exactly what poison was and what they held, since he had his fair share of it in that godforsaken experiment.
Still, if it was odourless and tasteless, it might hold a challenge, when it comes to desserts like ice-cream and pudding.
Fang had the easy route. He conjured his shadow panther and let it try it for him. The funny thing was, no matter which sample it ate, it choked and collapsed every time. Fang groaned and rolled his eyes. Was this really necessary?
Thunderstorm shrugged and tried a bit of each. He was immune to poison, so it wouldn't affect him.
By the time everyone was done, most of the other ten participants was throwing up from the effects of the poison. Some of their faces were green and some just passed out.
"Your answers!" The commentator declared.
Other than Fang and Thunderstorm, the others only answered one of each.
"All of them are poisoned," Fang answered.
"All of them are poisoned," Thunderstorm agreed. "With an exact ten-millilitres of cyanide, sulphur and iodine all diluted with odourless solution, all placed in them for an exact 642 seconds while being exposed to an environment suited for chemicals, most likely in a laboratory."
The commentator gawked at him.
The next test took part in the same arena, but with the temperatures would be cranked up to a 193 Celsius and down to -283 Celsius in a matter of seconds. They weren't joking when it was an extreme climate test.
It opposed no challenge towards Thunderstorm. He could shift to Blaze or Ice with no sweat broken. All Fang had to do was create a sphere with a vacuum space so it wouldn't affect him.
Again, they were the only ones that could still stand on their two feet. The rest of the competitors struggled to even stand, all suffering from frostbite and severe burns.
Next, it was a combat situation. They each had a dummy the size of an adult to protect while completing an obstacle course while being pursued by robots who can shoot lasers. Bonus points for destroying them.
"This is stupid." Thunderstorm ducked as a swinging axe sailed over his head. Let no harm come to the dummy, they said. Well screw that. If he activated his lightning speed, whoever is in contact with him will be electrocuted.
Fang had it easier. Despite still being slower than Thunderstorm, he summoned his falcon and flew over all the obstacles that consisted of swinging axes, lasers, motion detectors and spike pits that would open on the floor at complete random. He created shadow hands and destroyed the pursuing robots.
Thunderstorm slid under a laser that shot out of nowhere, all the while still hoisting the dummy over his shoulder. He turned around sharply and electrocuted the robots, then finished the course in first place, with Fang running up a few seconds later.
"Why couldn't you just teleport?" Fang asked.
Thunderstorm realized his mistake and slapped his own face.
It was the final round. They were split into two groups with six people in each. Thunderstorm and Fang were mercifully in different groups, which meant if they won, they would stand together in the same side.
There were no rounds, and they had to fight each other all at once. Thunderstorm swung his blade in a wide arc and all of them were knocked out by electrocution. Fang created shadow hands and threw them into the air. They landed on the ground, knocked out.
It was the shortest match in the history of matches. The entire process took around thirty seconds, with twenty-five of such taken for the commentator to check the other passed out contestants.
"I have never seen people like you in all my life," the commentator said to them in his office. "You are valuable bodyguards, and good-looking, too. You sure you don't want to be a model yourself?"
"No," they said in unison.
"Pity!" the commentator exclaimed. "Well, you will meet the celebrity Kassim in a few minutes. He will instruct you on your procedures."
The door slammed open. "I said I didn't require bodyguards."
Kaizo took one look at the two teenagers and was officially speechless.
"I'll leave you three be," said the commentator. He left the room.
Fang turned to his brother. "I need answers. Now."
Kaizo had no idea whether to chide them out for coming here, yell at Fang on why Thunderstorm is with him when everyone can't find him, or just be stupefied that they had come to his undercover mission again. He decided on all of them.
"What are you doing here?" Kaizo struggled to keep his voice even.
"I need answers," Fang repeated. "About Enerbot and what happened when I was 4."
Kaizo's frowned deepened. "You know that's classified."
"No, it's not!" Fang lashed. "I spent my life not knowing where my brother disappeared to! You're not my brother, you're just my captain!"
He let it hang in the air.
Thunderstorm hadn't seen Kaizo much in person, but he could see that his façade was breaking. Like him, Kaizo was trying to protect something or someone. That happened to be Fang. This is a destructive way of protection, but often effective, even if he had to hurt his brother himself.
Thunderstorm's eyes fell onto Kaizo's hands. They were closed, but not clenched. It was like he held no fight against Fang's statement, only surrendered to the fact that their brotherhood was long shattered.
"Hey." Thunderstorm rose from his chair. "Both of you, take a step back. You're both scared, I know."
"How dare yo—" Kaizo was cut off by Thunderstorm.
"I understand you're trying to protect him," he told Kaizo. He turned to Fang. "And I know you're also trying to protect him. You two are trying to protect each other but your methods are, by far, the stupidest and idiotic I have ever seen in my entire life."
Kaizo glared. Fang spluttered.
It was short, but it held a huge hidden meaning and impact. If they wanted to protect each other, they had to welcome the other into their world first. What was protection without trust? What were brothers without it?
Thunderstorm didn't let them finish the thought. "I need to know where your parents attained Enerbot fourteen years ago."
"Fourteen years ago?" Kaizo frowned. "I was 9. Why? Enerbot was with my family for generations."
"When my father met my mother, he had Enerbot and my mother had Stealthbot. From what Tok Aba told me, he never stayed for long, only visited every week. Then he left before I was born, bringing Enerbot with him."
"Stealthbot?" Kaizo was thoroughly confused now.
"Vargoba's his grandfather," Fang supplied. "He killed his mother and took Stealthbot. His mother escaped and fled to Earth."
"Please," Thunderstorm pleaded. "Tell me all you know. I need to find my father."
Kaizo tried to comprehend what was going on. First he was undercover on this planet to try to find some new recruits, then now his brother and Vargoba's grandson were somehow his new bodyguards and they're resolving family issues.
"Very well." Kaizo sighed. "When I was 9, our father was always resolving wars or leading them. After the wars, things calmed down. But after Pang was born, he kept leaving every week again. When Pang was 4, I was 13. Bora-ra went after us and he was nearly killed. I took Enerbot with me and trained under the Legendary Masked Hero."
It was Fang's turn to try to comprehend everything he just heard.
Thunderstorm bit his lip. "But that can't be. Enerbot was with my father... did your father take it from mine?"
"No," Kaizo denied. "It is virtually impossible. Enerbot was with my family for generations. It was with me since I was born."
"Did my father borrow it from you, then?" Thunderstorm reasoned. "I don't know what's true anymore. I checked Databot and it said Enerbot was with your family for decades, never transferred to someone else even for a minute. So ho—?"
"There's one more thing," Kaizo interrupted. "That my father has admitted to had fallen for another woman before, but he never said whether if he had a child or not."
Fang's eyes were as wide as saucers. "What? He cheated on our mom?"
"If I'm not mistaken," Kaizo continued. "Boboiboy, you're our missing brother."