Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
"Yea, man. One hit and you'll be flying high. Best high of your life," the deals always went down in shady alleys of Jump City's bowels. They were easy to find, but not readily sought out. Most people would avoid the area at this time of night, but those who couldn't choose to race by, eyes ahead, turning a blind eye to the inner-workings of Jump's crime syndicates. This deal, however, one person just couldn't ignore.
"Really?" The customer answered, tugging the neck of his sweater vest. He was feeling a little choked by it. "You sure? It'll make me happy?" A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. He never thought he'd find himself here.
The lowlife smirked, displaying his broken teeth. "Abso-fucking-lutely, man. Here, first one? On me." He handed over a small baggy.
"Wow, thanks." He reached for the bag.
"Hey!" a man in a red mask popped out from the shadows. "Thanks, Donny. That's enough." He took the bag from the lowlife's hands.
"But boss, I-"
"Ya did good. Now go." The masked man handed the lowlife a wad of cash. The lowlife nodded and turned on his heels, running out of the alley. He had heard the only time you see the boss is when it would be the last thing you'd ever see.
The man in the sweater vest was shaking now, he recognized the man from the wanted posters. He turned to walk away as well, but much to his misfortune, a heavy arm fell around his shoulders.
"Where ya going, pal?" He smiled beneath the mask, but his arm was heavy, leading the man in the direction he chose. "We aren't finished talking yet."
"I- I don't want any trouble." He whimpered, beginning to feel very scared.
"Really? Looked to me like you did," the masked man shook the bag of meth.
Sweater vest was shaking now, tears beginning to form at his eyes. "No. No trouble. Just trying to buy some crystal." He was way out of his comfort zone.
"Crystal? You ever try it?" he asked, but he knew the answer.
"N-no, sir. Never."
The masked man slipped it in his pocket. "Why would you want to?"
The other man began to cry, tears streaming down his face. "They say it's the best high. My wife…" he sobbed, "she passed away a month ago. I lost my job yesterday… the house, I can't afford the mortgage, and-and…" his breathing was labored.
The masked man stopped, "This isn't the way. You may feel down right now, and you want a high, but meth isn't going to bring you up, okay? It's going to bury you. And that's a hard hole to dig your way out of."
The man wiped the tears from his eyes, sniffling. The masked man continued to lecture.
"Your wife, she wouldn't want to see you like this. She wouldn't want you taking drugs like this. Go home, apply for some jobs. I don't ever want to see you here again." He pulled his arm away from the man, deftly slipping a couple bills into the man's back pocket as he pushed him forward out of the alley onto the sidewalk. He held up the small baggy for the man to see, "Remember. For your wife."
The man hurried down the street.
The sound of footsteps on wet pavement clicked behind the masked man. He sighed, he would recognize the echo of those stupid unsightly steel-toe boots anywhere.
"Threatening a man's wife, X?" the vigilante's scathing tone accused. "Classic."
Red-X rolled his eyes. No wonder Robin's parents were acrobats, the guy was so good at jumping to conclusions. "Following me around? It's 11 at night, don't you have a redhead to entertain?" Red-X refused to turn around, his kept his back to the hero and walked deeper into the dark alley.
"Stop right there, X."
X kept his stride. "What is it this time? Was I jay-walking? Gonna give me a ticket?"
Suddenly the hero dropped down infront of him holding his boe-staff horizontally. He pressed it to X's neck and backed him against a wall. "Tell me where she is."
X could feel a playful smirk twinging at his lips. "Where who is? Your girlfriend? Just on my way to meet her actually."
Robin pressed his staff harder to the criminal's neck. X could tell he wasn't playing tonight. "Where. Is. She."
X's eyebrows knit together. "Alright, just take it easy. I honestly don't know who you're referring to."
"Raven!" Robin bit angrily, his spit flying onto X's mask.
X rolled his eyes. "Jeez, bird boy. Say it, don't spray it." He pushed Robin away from him and extended his own staff to keep the vigilante from trying to invade his space again. "Did you check that emo coffee shop down the road?"
Robin was getting angrier by the second. "Don't play dumb with me! Where is she?!"
"Oh my god, for the last time, Man, I don't know," he started walking down the alley again. "She probably went to some other demon realm to end the world again." X was getting pretty annoyed, he had a meeting to get to and he didn't appreciate all these accusations.
"No! She didn't. You know what happened to her." Robin sheathed his weapon. His voice was more pleading, "Please. Just, tell me anything you know."
X stopped. He sensed this might be deeper than he expected. He turned to face his adversary. "I honestly don't know anything. Fill me in."
Robin sighed hopelessly. "She was kidnapped."
"By?"
Robin glared, "If I knew, I wouldn't be bothering you."
"Fair enough. How do you know she was kidnapped?"
"We were bombarded. We got a call two days ago, Cinderblock was destroying the city. When we showed up, it wasn't just Cinderblock. , The Hive Five, Thunder, Lightning, Control Freak, Mumbo. Everyone was there. We fought hard, it was difficult, we were outnumbered. However, at the end of the day we managed to get most people in cuffs… except… Raven was missing." He looked down at his feet, the failure of his leadership weighing him down.
Red-X nodded. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a figure hiding in the shadows duck behind the corner. "Tough break." He kept his emotions stoney. "Good luck finding her," his sarcasm was eminent.
Robin's anger flared up again, "That's all you have to say? You can't even give me an idea of where she is?"
X scoffed. "Listen, wherever she is, she's getting what she deserves. Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you." He started to distance himself from the domino-masked man.
Robin frowned, "Really? That's how it is then?" He knew they weren't friends, he knew they played for different teams… but at the end of the day he never thought X was evil. He thought if he could count on any criminal to give him some intel in a situation like this, X might be the one.
"That's how it is. She's probably dead by now. Keep coming around me, and you'll be next." X picked up the pace, "Stay out of my territory. That's your only warning." He turned the corner and deftly jumped, catching the fire escape swiftly and pulling himself nimbly up the metal shafts until he reached the roof. He peeked over the edge to see Robin looking lost in the alley.
He pulled out his burner and dialed his right-hand man. "Larry."
Larry was relieved to hear from him. "Where are you? The meeting is in two minutes. These guys don't like to be kept waiting. They own the whole east side cartel."
"Right. Can't make it. You'll have to handle the negotiation for me."
"Handle it for you?!" Larry sounded horrified. He never was a talker. "What do you mean? This is a big deal. I don't know how to 'handle it for you'."
X smirked. "So do exactly what I would do."
Larry's heart was racing. "And what would that be?"
"Kill them all, then notify their people that it's my territory now and they work for me."
He could almost hear Larry's grin through the phone. "On it, boss." He hung up the phone. His plans for the night had shifted to something much more important.
The dive in the northern rat way. It was located in bum alley, off of 34th, with a carpet of garbage to lead the way. Down a couple of concrete stairs and through a barred door. No person in their right mind would ever find themselves in a shit hole like this. It reeked of piss.
Jason walked through the door like he owned the place. It wasn't the type of place to wear a mask. In fact, no one would be able to walk in safely hiding their face. This was a worry-free place for Jump's black market white collars.
He took a seat at the bar. The bartender gave him a nod, and he nodded back. "Whiskey." The man got to it. It was time for Jason to get to work as well. He turned his body fifteen degrees to the left, facing his right ear to a couple of rough looking guys at a table behind him. He could just barely make out their conversation.
"…yea, it's been tough but I cut the angel dust with some crystal. Tastes the same, heck, maybe even better."
"Once we find out who's been undercutting us, we'll find 'em and adjust the market."
Jason sighed, turning more to the left, hoping to pick up on something different.
"…it's been taken care of."
"But did you park the car?"
"Yea, in the bottom of the ocean."
"That's my boy."
Jason rolled his eyes. They dredge the harbor so often it was about as good a place to hide evidence as on the police chief's desk.
The bartender set the drink in front of Jason. "Thanks, Jim." He took a sip. "Hey, you hear about that Titan bitch?" he smirked. "Glad she's off the fucking streets, huh?"
The bartender's eyes fell to the glass he was polishing, but a slight hint of a smile was playing on his lips. "Yea, I mighta heard somethin. You think she'll be off the streets long?"
Bingo. Finally someone with information. "Well, depends on who has her." He was fishing.
The bartender's smile dropped, he placed the polished glass on the shelf. "I guess it does."
He could tell his fish was losing interest. "Is it someone competent?"
"No idea." The man dropped his rag on the counter and went into the back.
Jason sighed. No bite. This might be more difficult than he thought. It must be a big threat if it wasn't just common gossip tonight. People must be afraid to talk about it. That made sense, if everyone was talking about it, bird boy would have it on his radar already.
He spun around in his bar chair, his eyes catching two scrawny looking men in a booth at the back of the bar. Jason downed his drink quickly and stood up, stretching his neck from side to side then making a beeline to the booth. He sat down, pushing a man over as he slid onto the bench.
"Hello, gentlemen."
The men looked insulted. One of them spoke up. "Who are you?" Disgust dripped off his words.
"A friend. We're all friends, right?" He turned to grin at the man on his left.
The man immediately recognized him. "Yea, man. We're all friends here. Right, John?"
John frowned, "Nah, I don't think we are. I don't know you."
Jason smirked. "Course ya do. Though, usually I have a big red X across my face. Maybe you've been to my office?"
John seemed quieter now, realizing who he was.
"Yea. That's what I thought. And you guys, where's your office? What are you from, east? You Vinny's people?"
They exchanged a glance. Finally, a win. "You are, aren't you? I guess that makes you my people now." He looked at his watch. "I killed Vinny about thirteen minutes ago."
The men traded frantic glances.
"Go ahead. Make a call, I'll wait. But no one leaves this table."
One of the men picked up his phone, dialing his boss. Jason couldn't help but smile when he heard Larry pick up on the other end, "Hello, Larry speaking."
"Larry?! Where's Vinny?" the man asked.
"Dead. You work for X now."
The man hung up. Jason was honestly impressed with himself. He never expected this to work out so perfectly.
"Well, gentlemen. Now that we've settled that… I need some information."
"We don't know nothing about Vinny!" John blurted.
"That's cool. I don't care about the dead. What I care about is Raven."
"Raven?!" the other guy asked.
"Yea, you know. Short purple hair. Teen Titan. Ring a bell?"
"Yea. But, we don't know nothin' bout her neither!" John explained.
Jason narrowed his eyes. "You sure about that? Because I don't need many workers. You two are expendable… however, if you tell me what you know, I'm sure I can find a spot for you among my ranks. If not, that's just two more low-lifes off the streets."
The men were tense now. John looked to his friend, his eyes warning him not to talk. Jason threw his arm around the guy's neck in a not-so-friendly gesture. "Ah come on, you can tell me. We're buddies, right?"
John averted his gaze, refusing to make eye contact with X. "We might be your guys, but we ain't kamakazi."
Jason was getting fed-up now. He was used to a fixed level of intimidation. If he wanted something, he would get it. "Interesting." He knew that if they weren't budging, the person of interest must be much more threatening than himself. Yet, he owned the biggest share of Gotham's criminal territory. So who could possibly be more threatening then himself? "Alright. What if I offer you protection for your information?"
John scoffed, a grin playing at his lips. "Oh yea, that's a good one. No one could protect us from-"
BANG, the metal plated door fell to the ground. Six black clad figures rushed in, machine guns pointed forward.
John and his friend ducked under the table, quaking. "We told you! Look what you've do-" a bullet whizzed through the air straight through the side John's head cleaving all the way through his skull to break through the other side and bury itself into the other man.
X stood up deciding this was not a fight he wanted to be a part off. He dashed across the room, a criminal hideout wouldn't have just one exit. Bullets rained down after him, the sound of 6 active machine guns deafeningly piercing. He zigzagged, hoping not to catch a death like John and his pal.
Busting through the back of the bar he was pumped with adrenaline. The bartender was missing. He shook his head, he knew he made a big mistake tipping off the informant. Good Ol' Jim, what are friends for.
He opened the door from the kitchen to the back alley, running directly into a black wall.
"Nice try." The goliath clubbed him, his head being hit so hard he fell to the ground seemingly lifeless.
A sigh was heard, followed by a deep menacing voice so sickeningly smooth and patronizing it could be recognized anywhere. "Get a bag on his head and load him in the van."
A/N: Thanks for reading, let me know what you think and if I should continue.