X marks the spot

Author's Note: This story is a prequel to "Knight and Day" it is recommended that you read that story first, so that everything makes sense.

"The titans are done for" said madam Rouge as she stepped into the underground base. "Indeed" replied the brain, in his monotone electronic voice. "I trust your mission was successful?" Rouge smile, "of course" she smirked, as she placed a communicator on the table. "These children are no match for a trained killer" The brain wheeled his electronic body over to the communicator, examining it telepathically. "Very good" he said, "but I cannot declare a winner while there is still a pawn on the board." Madam Rouge turned around, looking mildly surprised. "What do you mean?" The brain wheeled over to a computer. His head glowed green and images appeared on the screen. They were random pictures. The first few showed a young boy, armored in steel as he fought off what looked like terrorists in front of a school. Then the pictures grew poorer in quality. They were random security camera shots of a shadowy looking figure dressed in an excessive amount of clothing. Occasionally a piece of armor was visible through his disguise. "Another titan?" Rouge asked. "No" replied the brain, "but this one is still a threat. He chooses to hide for reasons unknown, but he is a powerful warrior who fights for good. Even if the titans have no knowledge of him, he must still be eliminated." Madam Rouge just shrugged and started for the door. "Be cautious" the brain called after her "this one is not like the others, he has killed before."

Days later

Knight roared down the highway atop his motor cycle, Warhorse. It was a sweltering day in the desert as he rode along. He was wearing full armor covered with clothing, making him big, bulky, and very hot. Suddenly, all manner of vehicles went screaming past him. A larger man went by laughing in his small car; he held a brief case behind him. After that Knight was passed by a red motor cycle marked with an R. A caped teenager was driving, and someone in a black suit marked with an X sat behind him. Then went all kinds of crazy vehicles, someone was driving a model of Big Ben, a vehicle that was just one wheel, and Knight even thought he saw somebody in a light bulb. Knight dropped a bit of speed to let the strange race pass him. A few minutes went by, and then Knight could hear explosions. He swerved from side to side trying to avoid debris; then suddenly the man in black he had seen earlier appeared on the front of his cycle. He wore a mask that looked like a skull and his black cape whipped around behind him. "You in the race?" he asked. "What? No!" Knight yelled. "Luckiest thing you've said all day pal!" with that, the mysterious jumped into the air, and vanished.

Knight had enough of this, he took a side road. He sped on for what seemed like an eternity, not seeing any sort of civilization. The sky grew dark with clouds, and it began to rain. He sighed, it was only a drizzle at first; but it steadily grew heavier and heavier until the heavens really opened up. The sun went down and lightning slashed across the sky. Knight was soaked and he had to find shelter, then he saw a building. He took a right turn and drove into the parking lot. It was dark, but lighting flashed and a sign was visible, it read "General store." The windows were boarded up and a no trespassing sign was taped to the door. Knight just smirked; he doubted anyone would care as he forced his way in. Unknown to him, someone was watching his arrival, watching and waiting.

The room was dark, Knight felt around on the wall next to him until he found a light switch. Thankfully, there was power to the derelict building; even though most of the overhead lights were busted, and those that remained didn't cast much light. Knight looked around his gloomy surroundings. Everything was covered in a decent layer of dust, a cash register sat atop a counter at the far end of the room. The entire store was shrouded in an eerie low hanging mist that hugged the ground. Knight took off his clothing, revealing his armor. Then he went through the empty shelves, trying to find some remnant of the store's stock he might be able to eat. All he found was a can of beans. Mmmm Knight thought to himself dinner. Even in his own mind Knight was sarcastic to the last. He made a small fire; then started eating. For a few minutes, he ate in silence. Then, he heard a voice. "Andrew?" the voice asked. No Knight thought as he recognized the voice, it can't be. Knight stood and turned, sure enough, it was Christina who stood in the doorway. The girl he'd loved; the girl who loved him back, and the girl who died right in front of him.

"Christina!" Knight shouted joyfully, "I can't believe it's you!" Knight walked towards her, she stood with her arms open wide, ready for a tender embrace. Knight was upon her in seconds. He slammed her against the wall and put his dagger to her throat in what seemed like the blink of an eye. "WHO ARE YOU!?" Knight screamed. Christina began to cry, "Andrew it's me!" Knight pressed the dagger against her throat. "No it isn't, I watched as the bullet tore through Christina's head, I watched her limp body fall at my feet! I don't know what kind of sick joke this is, but you're not her!" Then, Christina began to mold and shift, within a moment it was Madam Rouge whom he had pinned against the wall. "Good policy" Rouge said as she hit him the stomach, sending him flying across the room "Never trust anyone." Knight stood and drew his sword, "Who are you?" he asked. Rouge chuckled and her arms stretched, arching towards him "I am the last person who will ever see!" She enveloped him. He arms stretched and covered his whole body, suffocating him. "Too easy" Rouge said; then she screamed as Knight cut himself free of his prison. Her arms were undamaged, but being sliced was still very painful. She growled and raised her fist, which had grown in size, she brought it down, trying to crush Knight but he dodged to the side and ran at her. Madam rouge lept away, avoiding his charge. She struck at him like a whip, but Knight avoided her and scooped up his crossbow. He rolled and came up, firing as he did so. The bolt was perfectly aimed and hit her squarely in the forehead. Rouge screamed in pain, but her face reconstituted itself and rejected the deadly projectile. Note to self Knight thought Make specialized crossbow bolts.

Outside, Red X rode by on his stolen motor cycle. As he passed the general store, he could see lights inside. X was mildly and intrigued and he moved to investigate. As soon as he opened the door, a shelf flew past him, close enough to touch. He witnessed a colossal battle. The man he had spared earlier was now clad in black armor and he dueled furiously with Madam Rouge. Lucky for armor guy I showed up Red X thought, I don't like Rouge. On that thought, X sprang into action; hurling his electrically charged X's at Rouge. She wasn't expecting the attack and they hit her head on, charging Rouge full of electricity. She cried out in pain, and lunged at X. She began to cover his entire body. He was being consumed. "X!" Knight shouted, not sure what to call the new comer "Take this!" Knight pulled the dagger from his belt and tossed it to Red X; he caught it at the last second and cut himself free. Rouge screamed for the last time, the odds were against her. She morphed into a puddle and slithered out the door, defeated.

"Thanks" said Red X as tried to catch his breath. "Don't mention it" Knight sheathed his weapon and held out a hand to X, helping him up. "They call me Knight" he said. Red X brushed himself off, "name's X, Red X. You can handle yourself pretty good." Knight just nodded and walked over the small fire he had set, returning to his beans. Red X thought for a moment, when he looked at Knight he saw opportunity. "You know," he began, "your accommodations are… charming" X explained, gesturing to the gloomy interior of the derelict shop; "but perhaps you'd find my place more suitable." Knight looked up from his meager meal, "I think I'll take you up on that offer."

Knight rode on his bike a little behind Red X, they were on their way to the city; where X had said there was a place for him to sleep. It was 12 in the morning when Knight finally saw the city, glowing brightly on the horizon. The rode in, past the gleaming towers, to the slums. Knight had re-donned his clothing in order to hide his armor once more. They passed buildings, old and ill cared for. There was graffiti wherever there was an open space, sporting gang names or signifying where drugs could be bought and sold. Red X might live in the bad part of town, but Knight hadn't had proper sleeping arrangements in years. Finally Red X stopped in front of what looked like an abandoned hotel. "Home sweet home" Red X said. He opened the door and Knight stepped inside. Turns out, the hotel wasn't abandoned. Two men stood at the far end of the room. They were gang-bangers. One stood against the wall with his arms crossed and made small talk with the other, whose face bore many scars. "Yo X!" the scared one called, "Who's the new guy?" The man looked at Knight, sizing him up. "A friend" Red X replied. "All right, so long as he don't make trouble!"

Red X went up a flight of stairs; then opened the second door on his left. Knight stepped inside. The apartment was one room. A desk with a laptop on it stood at the far corner, with a bed opposite it. The kitchen consisted of a sink and a battered looking table towards the back, and the middle of the room was dominated by an old sofa; which faced an expensive looking plasma TV. A closet and bathroom were also in the room. "It isn't much" X began, "but it's better than an abandoned general store a hundred miles from the nearest gas station." Knight looked around, "It's better than I've had in a long time." Red X sat down on the sofa. "So" he said, "I've been thinking." Knight just stood there. "The quite type eh? I can respect that. Anyway, I've been thinking, maybe we can help each other out." Knight pulled up the chair from the desk and sat down, "I'm listening." Red X continued "You and I; we're a lot alike. And we share a common enemy: the brotherhood of evil." Knight sat back in his chair, "So they were the ones who attacked me." X nodded, "Yeah. They're hunting down any do-gooder. I'm no good guy, just a small time thief. They asked me to join them, and when I refused; they weren't too happy with me." Knight nodded his understanding and then spoke "So how do I fit in?" Red X produced a small red vile from his pocket. "My suit runs on Synotheum. It's tricky stuff to get; the brotherhood offered me some as a bribe to join them. Of course, now they won't give it to me. But you and me why I think we should just go in and take it."

"Isn't that like poking a hornet's nest with a stick?" Knight asked. Red X leaned in closer, "Normally, yes. But with both of us, we can storm their outpost just outside of town no problem." Knight was still awfully skeptical. "Look, it's great that you helped me out back there, but I don't see why I should get myself killed so you can have a nice suit." Knight got up and turned to leave, he placed his hand on the brass door knob, then Red X spoke. "There's an axe" X said, "An incredibly powerful axe." Knight stopped and turned around, "What axe?" Red X smiled to himself, now he would have Knight's help. "The brother hood of evil has it. It's a thousand years old, but it's preserved by some kind of Viking magic. The brother hood was going to use it to take down some of the … tougher titans. But I'm willing to bet you'd like it." Knight thought to himself. With an ancient and powerful weapon like that, he could find Seth, he could end his curse. "So I help you get this "Synotheum" and you help me get this Viking axe?" Red X extended his hand to Knight, "Do we have a deal?" Knight took X's hand and shook it "I'm in."

Knight and Red X rode through the city to the edge of town the next morning. Past the city limits and out into the desert they went, until they came upon an abandoned gas station. "We're here" Red X said as he dismounted. Knight looked around, it was an abandoned gas station; he didn't see anything else. "How do you know?" Knight asked. He had a bad feeling that he might be walking straight into a trap. Red X smirked "They made the mistake of taking me here when they tried to recruit me." X opened the door, it was unlocked. Inside there was dirt everywhere. There wasn't much, an old counter, a cash register smashed on the floor. Besides a decent amount of graffiti, Knight didn't see any criminal activity. Red X went over to the counter; he got down under it and started working on something. Knight leaned down to see what it was; it was a small computer screen. Red X was concentrating hard, "they've changed the pass code, but I should still be able to hack it." A moment or two of furious typing passed; then X spoke again. "Got it" he said, and the ground shifted underneath Knight, he stepped back as a trap door opened in the middle of the floor, revealing stairs going downward. Red X gestured for Knight to go down. He peered down the stairs; they rounded a corner, out of sight. He drew his sword and began his descent, his boots clinking on the metal stairs. What am I doing? Knight thought, but the idea of being able to strike back at Seth was just too tempting. If there was any chance of success, Knight had to take it. At last Knight and X came to a door, Knight took a deep breath, and pushed the button to open it.

The door slid open with a hiss, revealing two robotic guards. They barely had time to react before Knight had decapitated both of them. Their mechanical bodies fell on the floor in a heap, as soon as they did so, lights began flashing everywhere. The room was circular with five hallways heading in different directions. Robots poured from each door until both Red X and Knight were completely surrounded. Red X pulled out a few small X shaped throwing stars and stood back to back with Knight. The bots leveled their weapons. "Surrender" one said in a mechanical voice. "No" X replied as he jumped into the air, throwing his X's at the electronic army. His weapons lodged themselves in the soldiers, then moments later the exploded. Knight roared with rage and charged, swinging his mighty weapon left and right, smashing his opponents into oblivion. Red X held out two metal X's and used them as daggers, slicing through the robots and dodging to avoid being hit by the hail of laser fire. Red X fought furiously, but one of the robots got behind him and grabbed his arms, Knight saw him and cut a sloth straight through the sea of enemies to X, then he brought his greatsword down upon the droid, freeing his comrade. Within minutes, X and Knight stood triumphantly over the disabled army, whose bodies littered the floor. Red X pointed to the far left corridor, "you'll find the axe down that way." He said, and then he ran off into the middle hall. Knight angled his weapon forward, like a spear; then he proceeded down the path X had showed him. The hallway was short. It was ten feet long, and at its end was a door. Knight's breathing grew quicker as he approached it. Knight knew that enemies lay beyond, and perhaps the prize he sought. He took a deep breath and kicked the door down. No one was there. Knight's heart seemed to stop beating for a moment when he looked to the end of the room. There it was: the axe. Its head was broad and engraved with silver, It looked old, although it had been preserved beautifully. It was inside some sort of force field where it hovered, bobbing up and down slightly. Knight advanced and stood before it. Even through the field he could feel its raw power. With it, he could have a life again, he could know people, settle down, even have a family one day. Knight smashed the pedestal underneath it into nothingness with his sword. The force field flickered, and then failed. The axe fell on the ground, and Knight picked it up. As soon as he did so strange Nordic runes began to glow all over him, and he could feel the power surge through his system. The visor slits in his helmet began to glow blue, and Knight knew that now he would be the one Seth feared.

Knight waited. Minutes passed, and still Red X did not return. Knight was becoming more worried by the second until finally he returned the room where he had first entered and looked around. There was no sign of Red X; so Knight ran down the corridor that X had followed. This hallway was much longer. There were doors on both sides of the wall. Each one was opened, and Knight could see the remains of what once were robots on the inside, X had clearly dispatched them. As Knight grew closer to the door, his blood ran cold. He could hear something. It was faint at first, but gradually it became clearer. Knight was listening to screams of pain. Knight took off and ran down the hall, he could hear the tortured cries growing louder with every step. The hall seemed as though it ran on forever, but soon enough Knight brought his axe down upon the door at its end. Inside, Madam Rouge stood over Red X, who was strapped to some kind of machine. Tubes were attached to his suit, and red energy was being drawn out of it. Red X screamed out in pain. "I must thank you for convincing your friend Red X to come here" Madam Rouge said. "I am drawing the synotheum from his suit as we speak. Although, you're not really supposed to hook anything up to my machine with a person inside. Hmm, must be why he screaming." Then, maybe a hundred robots all flooded into the large chamber, guns leveled straight at Knight.

"Please" Rouge said "Be a dear and surrender." Knight raised the axe, as soon as he did so the Nordic runes once more began to glow all over his armor. Rouge gasped as Knight swung his new weapon. Knight could feel himself striking with the strength of a thousand men. The axe smashed ten of the bots into scrap, and lightning poured from its blade. Knight sprung ten feet into the air and brought the axe down upon the ground in the middle of the robot army. It struck with the force of an earth quake, creating a huge hole in the ground and obliterating the robots with one strike. "How" Madam Rouge stuttered, "how can you unlock the axe's power?! No matter. The machine doesn't have an off switch, and your friend is nearly dead!" Rouge gestured to Red X, who had given up his screams of pain and just convulsed on the table. The main machine was situated on the other side of the room, it radiated so much heat that no man could get near it, Red X was on the other side of the room. Knight had one chance, he looked down at the axe he held in his hand, his salvation. Knight closed his eyes it was too good to be true anyway He thought as he raised his arm. "What are you doing?" Rouge asked. Knight threw the axe, directly into the heart of the machine. The synotheum flowed back into Red X's suit. The machine began to pop and crackle, Knight had a feeling this whole place was about to go. He once more drew his sword, ran and used the blade to vault straight over to Red X and at the same time kick Madam Rouge out of his way. Knight slashed through X's metal restraints and hoisted his comrade onto his back. Knight turned and ran, when he looked back, Madam Rouge was escaping through another door, and his beloved axe melted further and further into the terrible machine, Knight could never retrieve it. He cut his losses and ran as fast as he could out of the building. Down the corridor and up the stairs he went. He threw open the door to the gas station and jumped out as the entire place exploded.

When Red X awoke his entire body ached. He sat up with great effort and when his head cleared, he could see he was in his own room. Knight sat in a chair adjacent to the couch where X lay, his arms were crossed and he was deep in thought. Knight looked over as soon as he heard Red X stir. "You're awake" he said. Red X groaned, "Yeah. Where's your axe?" Knight shrugged, "I couldn't get it and save you." Knight had given up any hope of a future when he lost that axe, but he didn't tell X that. Red X's expression changed and searched around his suit frantically "the synotheum!" he cried. Knight stood up withdrew a small red vile from his leather pouch; he tossed it to X. "You got it?" X asked. Knight said nothing, just nodded. Red was truly impressed, "you know... if you haven't got a place to stay. I could use your help." X held out his hand to Knight. Knight was tempted to shake it, to have a friend again, but he couldn't. Knight shrank back and started towards the door. "I'm sorry, but I'm a cursed man X, I don't have friends." With that, Knight opened the door. "Wait" Red X said and Knight turned. "You may not have friends, but you've at least made an ally." Red X tossed Knight a small communicator, marked with an X. "If you ever need me" Red X said. Knight slipped the device into his pouch; then he nodded and left