Contest of Champions

32

I must have dozed off, for when I wake up later, it's pitch black. Blinking several times, I allow my vision to adjust as my muscles tense, hoping no one's in the near vicinity. My shoulder still aches from Clint's arrow and I shift my weight slightly, drawing myself into a more defensive position.

After several seconds of silence, I hear voices. They're close, closer than I'm comfortable with. I may need to add a few more kills to my name.

Well. Depends on who is doing the talking and how many conversationalists there are.

I move into a crouch, gripping my daggers as I listen to the voices. After a couple seconds, I determine that they come from two contenders, one male and one female. District partners, perhaps?

As I creep forward, I wonder who it can be. My first thought is Veers and Yon-Rogg, who I know will have teamed up, but the female's voice isn't as cocky and confident as the Kree's is. The male's voice is deep, assured.

The voices grow louder as I move closer until I come up behind a rock and can tell, by the flicker of the shadows, that they are right in front of my cover. Taking a deep, slow breath, I listen for a moment, trying to figure out who I'm about to fight.

"Do you think we're safe?" the female asks.

"No," her partner replies. "We're in here to die. So we're not safe."

"You know what I mean!"

"Then say what you mean."

"Drax," the female hisses. "Are we safe right now?"

Drax refuses to budge from his point. "How would I know, Mantis? There could be anyone hiding behind these rocks."

He's got a point, I think. My very presence speaks to that.

"And if there is," Drax continues. "I will thoroughly enjoy killing them before I die to join my wife and daughter."

So it's Drax and Mantis of District 9. Now I've got to decide what to do. Do I kill them? Walk away? Or perhaps try and make allies?

Definitely not the last one. And walking away will do nothing for me with the audience. I need to prove myself, and leaving when I have a slight advantage will not improve my status.

So that just leaves killing them.

Or at the very least, trying to.

I relax and tighten my grip on my knives, my mind attempting to calculate how I should act. I know that we are being filmed, right this second, and that everyone will be hanging on to the edge of their seats, waiting to see how this will play out.

I wish I knew.

Drax and Mantis' hushed conversation cuts off suddenly and I tense. They must have sensed my presence. Either that, or someone else has arrived.

Great. Just splendid.

I turn one dagger over in the palm of my hand to hold it in a reverse grip and steel myself for combat. A flash lights up the area before me and I startle slightly as someone else attacks the two aliens before I can.

"Die, Kree scum!"

"Hit her, Drax! Yes! Use the knives."

Before I even know what I'm doing, I'm on my feet and catapulting myself out of my hiding place. I barely have time to call myself a fool before I land in a crouch in a clearing encircled by rocks, ready to launch into battle.

Veers is fighting Drax right now, her fists glowing as she throws a fast punch at him. Drax deflects her first punch but her second one strikes him in the side of the face and he stumbles a bit, bringing his daggers up defensively before him as she follows up her attack with a strong kick.