Chapter 1: New Beginnings
A shadow makes its way down a corridor with five other shadows following close behind. These five shadows are the Teen Titans. When the Titans reach an Elevator, the shadow is already grappling up to the top. Raven uses her powers to activate the lift on the elevator, leaving Beastboy to fly up after changing into a bat. By the time the Titans get up to the top, the shadow has already set up mirrors to re-direct the laser sensors. Raven, Starfire and Robin make it through the laser free space no problem. However when Cyborg tries to go through, he knocks some of the mirrors off of their positions. Causing the alarms to go off, and also making Beastboy change into a mouse to get through without being sliced to pieces. The shadow smashes the alarm panel, shutting off the god forsaken noise. As the shadow and Titans enter the warehouse portion, the moonlight streams in and illuminates the shadow. Shocking the Titans. The Red X suit has returned.
Shit. Of course the Titans have record breaking response time. They couldn't just be delayed a minute or two, could they? Red X asks himself in annoyance. But any further thought is stopped when Beastboy yells out.
"Red X?! But I thought Robin was Red X!" He yells out in surprise and confusion.
"Guess again." Red X says, launching X shaped projectiles that explode upon contact. If I didn't think they could handle these, I'd probably just go with hand to hand. He thinks to himself as Raven creates a dome to protect herself as the rest of the Titans jump out of the way. As she lowers her shield, Red X jumps forwards to land a flying kick. In response, Raven creates a small shield in front of herself. But instead of hitting Raven head on, Red X goes flying past her, and then sweeps her legs out from under her. Causing her to fall to the ground with a small *Thud*
"Sorry about that Raven." Red X mutters to himself as he crouches next to her, only to move to the side to dodge a Starbolt flies by his face, courtesy of Starfire. She continues to lob Starbolts at him, only for him to dodge out of the way of every one. He finally gets to the wall of the warehouse, jumps onto it, and then jumps off it. Only to launch himself off of Starfire's back as she flies towards him, making her turn around to go chasing after him once more. As he leaps across the I-beams of the warehouse, Starfire continues to try and hit Red X with her Starbolts. Until he finally launches himself high into the air, and fires two red beams at the metal columns on either side of her. They then proceed to bounce off said columns, and hit Starfire in the middle, sending her falling to the ground below.
The next to try and take down Red X is Beastboy as he flies up towards him in the form of a pterodactyl, before changing into an orangutan as he falls down towards him. Roaring out as he falls. Red X's response is to stuff a hardened X into his mouth, holding it open, and jumping away as Beastboy tries to smash it, pull it, and try to free it from his mouth. Finally, he changes into a hippo and opens his mouth to let it fall out. This ends up leading to him falling off the I-beam and crash into a pile of crates below. Red X chuckles at the irony of the situation, before noticing Cyborg running towards him. As he sees this, he launches another X shaped projectile at the half-metal teen. In response, Cyborg holds up his arm to block it, but that just leads to the X bouncing off. As he stares at it in confusion, the X elongates, before connecting to four different crates and pulling them in to smash into the teen.
At this point, Beastboy changes into a Sasquatch and smashes his way out of the pile of crates he was covered in, Raven and Starfire come flying towards them, and Cyborg breaks out of his pile of crates. He then proceeds to dust a piece of leftover crate off his shoulder, before turning his right hand into his personalized sonic cannon. Time for something I haven't been able to do in a long time. Red X thinks to himself with a smirk, before standing there with his arms held wide as they close in, Raven levitating a crate to use against him. "Come on kids. X marks the spot." Red X teases them, pointing to the X positioned on his chest, before dodging a sonic blast courtesy of Cyborg.
Red X then proceeds to use the crate Raven launches at him as a springboard to dodge the three Starbolts that Starfire throws at him. He lands in front of the transformed Beastboy, who raises his fists with a roar, before bringing them down to crush him. Red X's response is to use the suit's teleporting technology. But he takes a second to shudder at the feeling after being transported, preferring the natural way instead. Unfortunately for him, that second is all Robin needs to tackle him to the ground.
They roll around on the ground for a few seconds before breaking apart. Robin tries to throw a birdarangs at Red X, only for him to teleport behind the mask wearing hero. Red X tries to throw a punch at the back of Robin's head, only for Robin to dodge it, and then flip around and grab onto Red X's arm with his feet, throwing him into the wall of the warehouse. Robin then rushes over and pins Red X to the wall by his mask.
"Who are you?" Demands Robin through narrowed eyes.
"If I wanted you to know, would I be wearing a mask?" Red X asks, before gripping Robin's wrist and sending an electrical shock through him. He then punches Robin, sending him flying back into a pile of crates. "Then again, I could be asking you the same question kid." Red X adds. As much as Robin hates to admit it at the moment, Red X was correct in that regard. After seeing Robin get thrown into the pile of crates, Cyborg and Raven rush towards Red X, ready to attack.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zynth-" Raven is almost finished with her mantra before Red X launches out another X that causes her powers to affect Cyborg, and his sonic blast to hit her.
"Looks like you got your wires crossed." Red X quips. Ah, how I missed thee, witty banter. Red X thinks to himself, before dodging another barrage of Starbolts fired at him. In retaliation, Red X launches out a Red X that connects with Starfire and traps her against the far wall of the warehouse. He turns around as he hears Beastboy let out yet another roar as he changes into a bear. In response, Red X slams his palm into the ground, opening up an X shaped fissure, with one of the lines stretching out underneath the changeling. Beastboy stares wide eyed at the opening beneath him, before falling down as if he were in a Wile E Coyote cartoon. "Watch your step." Red X quips, looking down the fissure, before jumping over it and walking over to Robin. He moves Robin out of the way and picks up a gun shaped device, before running away as Robin gets up and chases after him.
"I won't let you get way with- Gah!" Yells out Robin as he's cut off mid-sentence by an C wrapping around his heels and making him fall to the ground. Red X skids to a halt as Robin falls, before twirling the device around his finger and clipping it to his belt.
"Better luck next time kid. And thanks for the suit." Red X says, before pressing the teleport button… Only for it not to work. "Come on, come on." Red X urges. Of all the times for Clockwork to interfere. He thinks to himself, Before making a run for it as Robin breaks free of his bindings. He makes his way to the roof, slamming on the button and causing it to be ready for activation. Robin tries to make one last lunge for Red X, only for him to jump up and out of the way. "Catch you later." He says with a mock salute, before teleporting away.
A few football fields away, Red X reappears on another rooftop to see the rest of the Titans show up on the roof. He uses his enhanced senses to listen in on their conversation. At first he starts to laugh when Starfire changes into a little chibi version of herself, poking Robin, before multiplying and completely surrounding him. Then he laughs even harder as Beastboy accuses him of being a robot and Cyborg puts on a latex glove. But soon, he starts to feel a bit of guilt as Robin is forced to convince the rest of his team that it actually wasn't him beneath the mask. Red X sighs, taking off said mask, and showing that the one behind it was none other than Amity Parks own Daniel "Danny" Fenton.
"Clockwork I swear, if this is some plan to get me to be a hero once again, I'm telling you right now that it's not going to work." He says to the air, knowing that Clockwork could hear him. Then he thinks about what he just said and lightly chuckles. "But then again, you already know how this, along with everything else, is going to turn out in the long run anyways." He says, before putting the mask back on and teleporting away using the suit. Not wanting to risk Raven sensing him.
"But then who is he?" Cyborg asks, scratching his head as the rest of the Titans, sans Robin, all look over the various pictures taken of Red X during their fight via his cybernetic eye seeing as the warehouse didn't have any cameras that they could use. "I mean, if Robin's the ex-Red X, then who's the new guy? Gah!" The last part was due to Beastboy rushing in with a white board and ramming Cyborg out of the way. He then proceeds to go on a rant about how the only other possibility besides it being his evil twin brother, is a bionic monkey being infused with Robin's DNA. Needless to say, the rest of the Titans did not agree with his idea, and Raven sent him flying into the kitchen by spinning him around with the whiteboard.
"Face it, he could be anyone. Anyone smart enough to steal the suit, and dumb enough to take it for a joyride." Raven comments. But before she can get any further, Starfire puts in her own comment.
"And when Robin returns, he will help us to discover who." She says, before the man in question walks into the ops room. The group starts to discuss, wondering what Red X is after, before Robin outright tells them. Red X would be looking for what powers the suit. Xenothium. As everyone else but Beastboy, who doesn't know what Xenothium is, reacts in shock, Cyborg then goes on to berate Robin for using an extremely unstable chemical for powering the suit. Robin then tells them that the device that Red X stole was a Xenothium tracker, and Cyborg uses his own systems to track down Xenothium so they could cut him off. But Robin tells the rest of them that he would find it the same way he had last time, and leaves the tower. Raven then decides to speak up again.
"We're also going to need to keep a closer eye on Red X." She tells the rest of the Titans present, who turn to pay attention to what she has to say. "I sensed that he's more than just someone dumb enough to take it for a joyride. He's someone who's dumb enough to take it for a joyride with powers." She announces. At this information, Beastboy freaks out.
"Are you telling me that the guy who took us down like we were nothing did it without using his powers?!" He exclaims in shock, getting a nod from the purple haired girl in return. This information only makes the team more wary about their new opponent. But Raven is thinking more about him.
It's not only that. She thinks to himself. his aura felt familiar. Like his. But he's a hero. So why would he steal the suit? Granted the last time I saw him was three months ago, but nothing that bad could have happened in that much time. Right? She asks herself. She just didn't know how wrong she was.
Red X, or Danny, sits crouched on a nearby rooftop. Watching Robin from the level above him. Then Beastboy shows up and idiotically brings up how Robin probably wished he had destroyed the suit, before saying that he would shut up. When Raven shows up, he tries to make himself smaller, hoping to hide his presence from her ever acute mind. When Starfire shows up, but Cyborg fails to, Robin tries to call him. Wow. Jumping to conclusions there Bird-boy. Danny thinks to himself as Robin assumes that the reason Cyborg isn't showing up is because he attacked him. Although, since I didn't attack him. Then why isn't Cyborg showing up? Great. Now something else must be going on at the same time that the Titans have to worry about me. He thinks to himself. Then Starfire tells Robin that the suit is a part of his past, and Danny decides to have a bit of fun.
"And personally, I think that it looks much cooler on me." He says, causing the Titans to look up at him. "Oh, and kid, stop jumping to conclusions. I didn't lay a finger on your metal friend." Red X says with a pointed glare at Robin, before throwing down sharpened X's, and then jumping down to the Titan's level. As he lands, he turns to the side to see Beastboy, who's changed into a rhinoceros, rushing towards him with Raven flying right behind him. He grabs another X, and throws it at them. It wraps around Beastboy, sending him flying into the air towards Raven. When they collide, the X then wraps around Raven as well, and they continue to fly backwards towards Starfire. She manages to catch them, and then hold them up to keep them from falling to the street below with a backdrop of fire and the sound of a fighting bell going off in the background.
Meanwhile, Robin charges at Red X head on, and ends up getting his attacks deflected twice, before Danny decides to have fun. As Robin turns around to try for a third time, Danny reaches out, pulls Robins mask towards him, and then lets go. Letting the mask snap back into place against Robin's face. As he backs up, gripping his face in pain, Red X jumps down to the Xenothium holding section.
Danny watches, invisible, s Robin finally rounds the corner to the vault door leading to the Xenothium. But he whirls around and starts towards the doorway when he hears Starfire scream. "What's the matter kid? Don't you wanna play?" Red X asks as he snaps back into visibility before Robin turns around. "After all, they're your toys." He continues, before tossing exploding X's at the console, opening the vault and allowing him entrance. Robin quickly follows as Red X jumps, twists, and turns to avoid hitting any of the lasers in the hallway. They easily make it to the end, and start to fall down a pit with a glass barrier at the bottom. Red X uses a different kind of X to deactivate the shield, before it then closes up behind him, blocking Robin from entering. Red X rushes off as Robin's face slams into the glass, eliciting a small chuckle from Red X.
By the time Robin manages to get through and make it down the new hallway, he's surprised when he reaches the end, only to find that Red X is nowhere in sight. However, he's more surprised when he suddenly appears and elbows him onto the tiled floor with an "after you." Robin looks at him quizzically through narrowed eyes, until a red X appears on the tiles beneath him and a ceiling mounted laser slides over to his position. Robin then proceeds to run towards the door on the other end of the room as Red X makes his way via the ceiling. Right before Robin reaches the end, Red X drops down in front of the door. "Thanks for the hand kid." Red X says as he closes the door before Robin can make it through, the laser close behind him.
Normally, I wouldn't do something like that. But this is Robin we're talking about. The mother freaking Batman's partner. He'll easily find a way out of this situation. Danny thinks to himself as he closes the second vault door behind him, before walking over to the middle console and entering the code that frees the floating Xenothium vial. "Xenothium Ore. Enough to power the suit for a good long time. Enough time for me to finish on my little project." Danny says to himself as he walks over to one of the walls and frees another container of Xenothium, opening up said container and placing the vial into the last available slot. "I love it when the good guy wins." He says to himself, before sagging slightly as he closes the container. Although to be honest, I haven't been the good guy in a while. He thinks to himself, before being startled by a red laser cutting through the wall surrounding the vault door. Shit! I knew he'd find a way out, I just didn't know it would be this way! Red X exclaims to himself as the beam cuts off and the door falls inwards, showing Robin holding onto a de-powered laser cannon.
"You're not going to win." Robin states as he throws the laser off to the side, before launching a flying kick into Red X's chest. Sending him flying back into the far wall.
"Kid. You are taking life way too seriously." Red X tells Robin as he pushes himself to his feet, and rushes forwards to meet Robin. Thus ensues a battle where Robin uses his bow staff, and Red X activates large sharpened X's that grow out of his gloves. They slice, parry, and stab at each other, until Robin gets a kick in. When this happens, Red X activates the X's, making them spin as if they were chainsaws, spinning around at high speeds as he rushes at Robin again. Robin dodges the first few strikes, before launching another kick at Red X, which connects, before being forced to block another strike from Red X, leading to a stalemate between the two.
"Why did you steal the suit? What are you planning to do with it?" Robin asks Red X through narrowed eyes. "Are you working for Slade?" Robin asks through gritted teeth as he asks this, and puts more pressure behind his bow staff to keep the two at a stalemate.
"Whatever I want." Red X answers his question plainly, before flipping Robin over his shoulder. "And I don't know who this Slade is, but I don't work for anyone. I'm not some mercenary out for higher. Nor am I some big villain. I'm just a plain old thief. I'm not threatening your precious little city. I'm just looking out for numero uno." Red X tells him as Robin gets into a fighting stance.
"So you're not psychotic. You're just selfish." Robin says as he narrows his eyes.
"Lighten up chuckles." Red X begins as he holds up his hands in a placating manner. "I'm not such a bad guy. Once you get to know me." He tells him. Although with Clockwork's meddling, I feel like you will get to know me. Danny thinks to himself, before he launches out two X's at Robin, who deflects one before the other knocks his legs out from under him. Red X uses his distraction to jump over him, pick up the container of Xenothium, and stand by the door. "Play time's over kid." Red X states as he slams on the belt. "Back off, or I trip the power core. And the core triggers the rocks. I don't think you want what happens next to be on your conscious." Red X threatens. But it's all a bluff. There's no way Danny would trigger the Xenothium with how unstable it is. Especially when he's in a room filled with it.
"And I don't think you want to be disintegrated." Robin retorts as he readies a birdarang.
Little does he know that I'd just have to go intangible to survive. Well, half-survive. Danny thinks to himself. But he stops as he hears the sound of something powering up behind him, before he's shocked and drops to the ground. His last sight before unconsciousness takes him is that of weird astronaut dressed people taking the rest of the Xenothium.
"Ugh. Woah, who were the moon men?" Red X asks as he pushes himself up onto his feet. Suddenly, metal bars rise up from the floor and reach all the way up to the ceiling, surrounding him.
"Criminals. Just like you." Red X turns around at the sound of Robin's voice and sees him walking up to the bars.
"Come on Kid." Red X begins, grasping two of the bars in his hands. "You don't think that this little play pen can hold me?" He asks. Robin's response is to activate the bars feature and sends an electrical shock through Red X. He recoils with a grunt of pain.
"You don't even care, do you?" Robin asks as he narrows his eyes. "A low-life maniac just got his hands on enough Xenothium to disintegrate the entire city. And it's your fault!" Robin exclaims.
"Don't you mean, our fault?" Red X asks as he turns to face Robin. There was no way he was going to take the entire blame for this.
"Well unlike you, I'm going to do something about it. And if you cared about anything other than yourself, you'd be helping." Robin growls out. Red X stays silent at this, as if thinking to himself. "I'll be back to take you to jail." Robin declares when he doesn't get a response. As he reaches the door, he hears Red X call out behind him.
"Robin." Robin pauses by the doorway, not turning around, but showing that he's listening. "What if I told you that I tried to be the hero once?" Red X continues. At this, Robin turns around to find that Red X is leaning against the back of the small cage he's in and looking down at the ground. "I tried for a solid ten months." Red X continues after he sighs. "But no matter how much I tried, no matter how many lives I saved, they just couldn't see me as a hero." Robin starts to walk back towards the cage. "Ten months. Ten months of this until one day… I failed. I failed for the first time in ten months to save people." He says, looking up at Robin as he stops at the console. "Six lives were lost. Six lives that were important to me. Tell me Robin, does a hero who can't even save his own family, still deserve to be a hero?" Red X asks Robin, almost in desperation. Robin stays silent at this, pondering the question. Then, he reaches towards the console, and unlocks the cage.
"Tell me pretty girl, have you ever seen something ripped apart? Molecule by molecule?" The duo hears Chang ask Starfire. Robin notices Red X shudder at that, and raises an eyebrow in his direction.
"Why don't you try actually having it happen to you, and then have it all reassembled with extra pieces?" Red X asks. At this, Robin shudders as he realizes that Red X was talking about just how he got his powers. Just before the duo had sneaked into the observatory, Red X had explained that he had powers that could help them out in this situation. Then he gave a little example by turning them both invisible, and then flying them up through the open part. Needless to say that when Red X told him this, his face remained stoic as he nodded, but on the inside was a whole other story. It was more along the lines of how Beastboy had reacted when he found out that Red X was beating them like they were nothing, without the use of his powers.
"Prepare to fire!" Robin is brought out of his musings as Chang yells out to his men. With a nod to Red X, Robin swings down and kicks Chang, making the laser re-position and take out part of the top of Titans tower in place of part of the city. As he lands, Chang turns to face an angered Robin.
"You just made a big mistake." He tells Chang through narrowed eyes as the laser reloads.
"Attack!" Chang commands his men in response. While Robin takes care of Chang's henchmen, Red X lands next to the rest of the Titans, looks them over, and then frees Raven as Starfire is forced to dodge a stray laser shot. As the pod opens and Raven steps out, she turns to see who freed her, expecting it to be one of the other Titans. What she doesn't expect is for it to be a chuckling Red X.
"That's three times I've saved you now Raven. I'm gonna have to start calling in favors soon." He tells her. Raven's eyes widen as her thoughts from earlier are proven to be correct.
"Dann-" She's cut off as Red X raises a hand.
"I'll explain after this whole fiasco is over. I'll explain everything." He tells her, before he notices that Chang is about to fire on Robin. Who, currently, was hanging from a broken railing from the catwalk. "Hold that thought." Red X tells Raven, teleporting into the rafters and tossing shock X's at the laser's control pad. This causes it to spark before he then swings down, catching Robin as his grip fails him and he starts to fall. "You gotta be more careful kid." He tells Robin in a mocking tone. In response, Robin smiles at Red X. Then the two of them have to dodge laser beams that are fired by Chang's henchmen. The duo shares a nod, and then mirror each other as they easily take down the henchmen as Chang franticly pounds on the laser controls, causing it to malfunction and go off continuously until half the observatory slides down the cliff side and into the open sea.
Robin then jumps down from the catwalk and lands on the controls in front of a frowning Chang, before punching him down to the ground. Red X jumps down from the catwalk and lands next to Robin as they stare down at the unconscious Chang. Then he turns around to find the rest of the Titans who were freed by Raven, who are now poised and ready for a fight. Red X nervously rubs the back of his neck, his nervous tick, as he stares at the Titans. "Heh, Heh. Guess I've got some explaining to do. Huh Raven?" He asks her. Raven takes of her hood and nods to him as the rest of the Titans stare at her in surprise.
"Raven?! You know this guy?!" Beastboy yells out in surprise. Raven gives a short nod to him before turning and facing Red X again.
"Yes. I wasn't sure at first. In fact, I wasn't sure until a few minutes ago. But we've met in the past. A few times actually. And now, he has some explaining to do." She says with a pointed glare in his direction as he chuckles nervously. Beastboy slides next to him and blocks his mouth his the back of his hand as he leans to the side towards Red X.
"Dude, you are so dead." He comments, getting a groan from Red X in response.
"Half-dead." Red X responds. Seeing the cartoon question mark appear above Beastboy's head, he waves it off. "I'll explain later." He tells him, before he hears Raven start to talk again.
"But first. Mask. Off. Now." She tells him. He sighs in response, before reaching up and taking the mask off, showing the rest of the teens a fifteen year old with bright blue eyes, and raven hair.
"Uhh… Who are you?" Beastboy asks.
"Danny. Danny Fenton." Danny replies.
"Okay, why'd you go attacking us?" Cyborg asks as he scratches his head. Danny turns and looks at him.
"Because you were getting in my way while I was trying to get the Xenothium." Danny replies with a shrug.
"Alright. Why were you trying to get the Xenothium?" Robin asks as he steps towards Danny, who shrugs in response again.
"So that I could figure out just how it powered the suit so that I could figure out how to use a different power source on it." Danny replies to Robin's question. Who then raises an eyebrow.
"What kind of power source?" He pries. Danny sighs, before reaching into the belt and taking out a vial, much like the Xenothium vial, and showing that it held a glowing green substance.
"Ectoplasm." He replies. Seeing the confused looks on everyone else's faces, besides Raven, he sighs. "Can we maybe take this conversation somewhere else? I have a feeling that the five-o are gonna be here soon, and I doubt you want to tell them why you're talking to someone new who's wearing a suit." Danny tells them, gesturing to the suit in question. The rest of the Titans quickly agree, but Robin has to stay behind to give their report to the police. With that squared away, Danny and the other Titans make their way back to Titans Tower.
"…" There's silence in the ops center as the Titans all wait for Danny to start speaking. Finally, he sighs, and begins. "Robin already has an idea as to most of the reason that I took the suit and became a thief for a short amount of time. But he doesn't have all of it." Danny begins. Then he turns to face Raven. "You remember how when you would stay in Amity Park on occasion, how I would mention Sam, Tucker, my family?" Danny asks her. She nods in response to his question. At that, Danny sighs and looks down at the Red X mask held in his hands. "Well they, along with my English teacher, all died in an explosion two months ago. And I was right there when it happened." He tells the Titans. Everyone but Robin gasp at this, and a few of the lights overhead explode after being encased in black. He just looks at Danny with sympathy. He could relate to seeing your parents die in front of you.
"What I'm about to tell you is the reason behind their deaths, and why I ran away from Amity Park and a certain fruitloop. I simply ended up here by chance." Ge tells them.
(Insert Danny Phantom origin story here)
(Insert "The Ultimate Enemy" episode here, but change so his family, friends, and teacher do pass on)
By the end of Danny's story, the ops center is quiet and the Titans are speechless, except for Raven, she looks at Danny with tears at the corners of her eyes. Finally, Beastboy breaks the silence. "So… All that happened because in an alternate timeline, you cheated on a test?" He asks. Danny nods in response to his question as he continues to stare down at the mask in his hands.
"Makes you think about what other little things we do during our life have a larger effect on the time stream as a whole." Cyborg says. After another minute of silence, Danny looks up from the mask and faces Robin.
Play: Linkin Park – Somewhere I Belong
"I asked you earlier if you thought that a hero who couldn't save his own family still deserved to be a hero." Danny tells him as the other Titans turn to look at the two. "Your response was that the hero would need time to heal, and to get back on the right side of the road if he'd strayed from it." He continues as Robin nods, and smiles a bit when he sees where this is going. "Well, I think that if that's going to happen, I'm going to need a little help." He tells them with a small smile. When the rest of the Titans understand what he's saying, they smile. Raven even gives him one of her rare smiles. She can finally repay him for all that he's done for her.
In another realm, a ghost watches the events play out on a screen and smiles as he watches the halfa make the right choice. "All is as it should be." He states as he changes form into that of a middle aged man. Then he pays more close attention to the girl in the blue cloak, and his ward before he gives a small chuckle at what