Before the Titans left for Tokyo…
Thumping.
All that Red X could hear was the beat of his heart, thumping at a slowly growing pace. His footsteps were totally silent, and his breath was as slow as a snail. He breathed through his nose steadily, which was uncomfortable but practical.
This was arguably his greatest theft yet; he was about to steal a nicely-sized package of magnesium from a ghetto laboratory run by a group of corrupt scientists involved with the mafia. They had once been studying simpler ways to defuse bombs, but they were laid off by their employers. Now, out of despair, they were working for mobsters and building bombs.
Red X wanted nothing to do with building bombs, however. All he wanted was the magnesium.
During experimentation, Red X discovered that magnesium can be used to make xenothium heat up upon impact, delivering the pain of a slice and a burn to anyone he needed to attack. Unfortunately for Red X, he only had a small amount of magnesium in his hideout, so he needed a lot more for further experimentation. This would mean he'd have to perform multiple thefts for magnesium, though, since he was limited to his hands and a few hidden pockets in his suit when it came to carrying the stuff.
He was tip-toeing his way along the thin catwalk above the main room of the warehouse that the scientists were building explosives inside of.
"Hand me a screwdriver, Michael," one of the scientists said.
Michael responded. "Which one do you need?"
"A small phillips."
Michael handed the scientist the screwdriver from a small set he had beside him, and was thanked with a slight nod.
Red X stopped moving for a moment, and poked his head out over the railing of the catwalk. "Where is that magnesium?" he thought, looking down at the tables the scientists were working on top of.
Red X shifted his eyes towards all areas of the desk until he finally found what he was looking for, in a small metal case labeled "magnesium". Under his mask, he let a smile grow on his face. "There you are. Papa's coming."
He continued to walk along the catwalk until he reached the end of it, where he could easily jump to a large box and wait until the scientists cleared the room.
Or… just to spice things up a bit…
"Michael, hand me a pair of small forceps."
"Alright. Here."
"Thank- OOF!"
The scientist was pulled down by his lab coat to the floor by a sharp, crimson, X-shaped blade. He struggled to get back on his feet while the other scientists backed away from the desks, shaken by the sudden action.
"What in the name of- WOAH!"
Another scientist was greeted with a kick to the jaw from above, and was thrown backwards, toppling into the scientist named Michael.
Michael looked at his co-workers' attacker and recognized him instantly. "Red X!"
"Hello," Red X said before swinging his fist between Michael's eyes, knocking Michael to the ground and unconscious. "Good night."
Red X picked up the metal case and wasted no time finding his way out of the warehouse. He ran through the dark, gigantic corridor of boxes, holding his magnesium tightly under his arm. After finding the room's exit, he expected the rest of his escape to be as easy as pie.
He reached his free hand out to open the door, but the door was kicked open instead. He jumped back, not having expected anyone to catch him. Behind the open doors was a group of men in snazzy suits, each one holding a weapon of sorts. One had a gun, and the rest had things like baseball bats and crowbars. One even had a pool cue!
"Boys… good to see ya!" Red X said, stepping back slowly.
"It's even better to see you, Red X. We don't like when people steal from us." the eldest man said. He was the one with the handgun.
"Sure is unlucky for you that we had cameras under the table! Isn't that right, boss?" one of the mobsters said.
"Sure is, Jamie," the eldest one said. Red X acknowledged this, noting that the oldest man in the group in front of him was the big bossman.
"Look, guys, I'd really like to stay and chat. Hell, I'd like to crack open a few beers with ya! But I have places to go, and things to do," Red X said, getting ready to press the "teleportation" button on his belt.
But before he could do that successfully, he was smacked in the side of his head with something hard, cold, and metal. A crowbar…
Red X fell to the floor, dropping the case of magnesium he'd just tried to steal, and froze.
"You ain't goin' nowhere!" A thug behind him said. "Got him, boss!"
"Good. Take that case back to the table where those dingus scientists are."
"You got it!"
…
"Hey, uh, boss? Red X ain't moving."
"And?"
"Is he dead? I mean… sometimes a crowbar to the head can kill a guy, ya know?"
"If he's dead, then that's one less problem we have to worry about."
"Yeah, but what are we gonna do with the body?"
"I dunno. Have fun with it, I guess?"
Cold metal… delivered swiftly and powerfully to the head… in a warehouse…
Red X couldn't move. This was all too familiar. He felt like he'd been here before…
"Have I?" he thought.
"..."
"Wait…"
"...!"
The night the Titans return...
"Home, sweet home! It's good to be back!" Beast Boy shouted, stepping into the living room of the Titan's Tower. "Dude, it feels like forever since we've been in here!"
"You can say that again, BB!" Cyborg said. "And it also feels like forever since I've kicked your butt in Mega Combat Seven!"
"Oh… you're on, Robocop!" Beast Boy said. "Hey, last one to the console gets to be second player!" he said quickly before turning into a cheetah and racing to the gaming console under their gigantic television.
"Hey- NO FAIR!" Cyborg said, trying to catch up.
As Beast Boy and Cyborg argued over their game, Raven entered the room, already furrowing her eyebrows with irritation. She hovered upstairs towards her room, presumably to lock herself in, without saying a single word.
Finally, in unison, Robin and Starfire walked into the living room and plopped down with each other onto the couch. The two could barely separate from each other after their kiss in Tokyo after their battle with Brushogun. Neither Robin or Starfire had stopped smiling since their first real kiss; it was a milestone in their relationship as friends, and the beginning of their relationship as lovers.
"Oh, Robin! I am joyed to be in the tower once again!" Starfire said, squeezing Robin in a tight hug. He would have hugged back, but his arms were currently being crushed by Starfire's strength.
As soon as she loosened her grip around Robin, he spoke. "So am I, Star."
As Robin and Starfire embraced each other in total bliss while Beast Boy and Cyborg competed against each other in a virtual deathmatch, Raven hovered back downstairs from her room, bearing the same expression she'd had when she went upstairs.
"Robin…" Raven said in her trademark monotone voice.
"Yeah, Raven?" Robin said, looking back behind the couch as Starfire cuddled his arm.
"You're going to want to see this," Raven said, a slightly more concerned tone to her voice now.
"Oh? What is it?" Robin asked, his other arm caressing Starfire's arm.
"Your room had a visitor while we were gone."
Instantaneously, Robin leaped up from the couch and hurried to his room to investigate, with Raven and Starfire following him.
Robin didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the hallway where their rooms were but was met with a gigantic mess when he entered his room. There were papers strewn about the cold floor of the large, shadowy room. Some of the papers had some of Robin's various gadgets on top of and under them, as well as his prototype gadgets and his older gadgets from Gotham City. But something in the room caught Robin's masked eyes. "Oh God…" was all that escaped his lips.
He rushed further into his room and found himself staring at one of his biggest mistakes as a leader, and as a friend.
"Friend Robin, is that…?"
"Red X was here…" Robin responded to Starfire.
On Robin's wall, just above his bed, the mask of the Red X was sloppily pinned to the wall with one of Robin's old 'birdarangs'. The rest of the costume was crumpled up on his bed, belt and everything. "How did he get in here?" Robin asked himself, looking all around the room for possible entryways apart from his door. There was no way that Red X could have gotten into his room without knowing the password for the panel outside the door!
"Perhaps Red X did the 'breaking of the in'?" Starfire suggested, her eyebrows middle-raised.
"I could figure out that much, but the question is how…" Robin muttered. He was trying his hardest not to start yelling about the situation; he didn't want to make himself look bad in front of Starfire any more than he has in the past.
"Perhaps he did the 'hacking'? Friend Cyborg taught me of 'hacking' once," Starfire said. "Though he did mention that the panels in front of our doors are 'proof of the hacking'…"
"They're supposed to be hack-proof…!" Robin said, still trying to figure out how anyone could have figured out how to get into his room.
"Maybe he teleported in? That's a feature you included with the belt when you built the Red X suit," Raven said, looking at the belt.
"But… that was never teleportation! It just turns you invisible, in a way, to give you a chance to escape! I don't think normal humans are even capable of building teleportation devices that small yet!" Robin said.
"Or maybe he just knew your password? It doesn't seem likely, but he might have figured it out somehow," Raven said.
"Maybe… but then how did he know?" Robin asked, perplexed. He stepped closer to the wall to take the mask off of it but stepped on something that ripped under his boot. He pulled his foot away and looked down to see a small, empty cardboard box labeled "J".
"No… it can't be gone! Where is it?!" Robin said, his voice raising.
"Robin, what is wrong? Something is missing?" Starfire asked, moving closer to Robin.
"Yeah, something's missing! It's a little VHS tape covered in green spray paint…! Did either of you see it anywhere else in the tower?" Robin asked, his fists clenching.
"I'm afraid not, Robin. Shall I attempt to find this tape of VHS?" Starfire asked.
"Uh… yeah! Go look for it! You, too, Raven. Help Star! Or look somewhere else! Find it, though!" Robin said speedily. He began to look under the numerous papers that had been scattered about the rest of the room, searching desperately for the missing tape that was supposed to be under his bed in a cardboard box. "I'll look in here! Go!"
"As you wish, dear Robin!" Starfire said. "Or… friend Robin? Whichever you prefer!"
"Uh… I'm fine with either one, Star!" Robin said, tossing a handful of papers behind him.
"I will be on my way, then! We will find the tape, Robin!" Starfire said, hoping to raise Robin's spirits. As Raven and Starfire left the room, Robin checked under his bed again, in case it had just fallen out. To his disappointment, however, the rest of the floor under his bed was empty.
"That damned thief…!"
R&R. I expect to continue this soon, but only time will tell.
