Disclaimer: This is my first Teen Titans fic. I don't own Teen Titans, or any of the characters therein. They belong to their respective owners. I don't profit from writing this fic, it's strictly a labor of love, blah blah blah…
Author's Note: A bit of info on this fic's placement in the timeline. It begins sometime after the conclusion of Season 4 ("The End", pts.1-3). However, for story-related purposes, this fic assumes that after the Terra story arc which ends with "Aftershock pt.2", the episode "Haunted" occurred before anything else in Season 3.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy----------
Chapter 1: Master Thief
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Wayne Enterprises.
Some thieves might've considered it a motherlode of sorts, one of the tallest and most prominent skyscrapers in Jump City, stretching for what seemed like miles upward. Against the background of the night sky, you could see the giant neon sign from almost anywhere for miles out, despite all the lights from the surrounding offices in other buildings. And inside… one of the greatest collections of gadgets, high-end technology, electronics and other assorted valuables that simply couldn't be found anywhere else in the city. Not to mention all the cash… the place seemingly any thief's dream.
Red X was one such thief.
Of course, in accordance with the immense value of the contents of the giant building, Wayne Enterprises also boasted an equally immense security system, the integrity of which only matched by a small handful of other high-profile buildings. Simply put, the place had it all… and then some. Infrared laser tripwires, pressure, heat, and motion sensors, surveillance cameras placed on almost every wall, both human and robotic armed guards patrolling on the inside and outside perimeter, and more encrypted passcode locked doors and sectioned off pathways than you might think… seemingly any thief's nightmare.
But these things weren't problems for someone like Red X.
No, there was only one thing that'd ever given him much of a problem, but if he could get in, take what he wanted, and make his escape without a hitch, that one problem wouldn't even show up to attempt to apprehend him. In fact, if he could do it without setting off a single alarm, even one of the most subtle ones, they'd never even know what had happened.
Until the next day, of course. Although, in the past they always did have a bad habit of showing up anyway the majority of the time. And if the Titans decide to show up again… he'd just have to be that much more careful this time out.
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Red X stood slightly crouched on the rooftop of a building adjacent to Wayne Enterprises, his ragged black cape draped around his body, the pale moon high against his back. Reaching down to his utility belt, he grabbed a small pair of binoculars to scope out his prey.
The belt… Robin had pulled a fast one and swiped it back when they'd temporarily teamed up to take down Professor Chang and his henchmen, forcing Red X to make a hasty escape without it, wasting a precious capsule of Xenothium in the process. Of course, Robin's reasoning was that without the belt, Red X would effectively be crippled, and therefore unable to use any of his Xenothium-powered trickery. This would hopefully make Red X easier to take down whenever they had their next confrontation. But no worries, as Red X knew he could get it back easily. As simple as it was to get into Titans Tower the first time when he originally stole the suit, Red X had no qualms about becoming a repeat offender to break inside a second time to retrieve his belt. After all, he'd already had the Tower's defense system memorized. The only important thing was to make sure the Titans weren't home when he came knocking. They weren't. In fact, unless Robin checked the vault where the equipment was stored regularly, he'd be surprised if Robin actually knew the belt was gone again.
Back to the present, where Red X continued to scan the perimeter. "Guards walking the outside," Red X thought to himself, "They've all got guns, but I don't see any of the mechanized ones out here. They must keep them somewhere on the inside, closer to heart."
Red X stood, readying his legs for his opening move. He felt the give as the rooftop's gravel shifted under his feet. After but a moment to steel himself, he launched forward into a full-on sprint, rapidly approaching the edge of the rooftop which would otherwise lead to a drop of several stories to the busy city streets below. Just as he reached the edge, he sprang from it with a powerful leap aided by compressed Xenothium gas which discharged from the soles of his feet, his cape flapping in the wind behind him as he traveled. Red X couldn't help but smirk under the mask as he sailed over the heads of unsuspecting guards. "Too easy…"
Upon reaching the apex of his leap, Red X readied his grappling hook, firing it to attach to the bricks of the building near a dark window about 3/4ths of the way up the building. The sharp edge of the grappling hook connected cleanly with but a tiny sound, inaudible to the guards patrolling so far beneath. Pulling the line taut, Red X swung the remainder of the way across, forming sticky Xs in his palms to cling to the wall once he reached it, the entire time being mindful to avoid the prying eyes of a few outdoor-mounted surveillance cameras. Climbing the wall for a few feet, Red X found another dark window he could break into. Forming a sharp X in one hand, he carved out a small opening which he then clambered into, carefully so as not to drop the cut glass and possibly alert the patrolmen below.
His feet on solid ground once again, Red X found himself in a large, open room, completely dark save for a few blinking green lights here and there. More cameras, no doubt. Bringing up a hand to touch the side of his mask, he activated Night Vision to confirm his suspicions. Another touch to the mask and he switched vision modes to infrared, checking for tripwires or any other security measures. There were none, save for the cameras.
Crouching low again to reduce noise, he skulked around toward the room's exit, avoiding the cameras' lines of sight while he went. He soon arrived at the doorway, peeking out through the looking glass before anything else. No guards, but infrared vision revealed several laser tripwires lining a hallway, along with more cameras mounted on the walls. Red X opened the door silently, and stealthily moved out into the hallway, hopping over and ducking under tripwires as he moved. A high jump to avoid both a set of tripwires and a camera, and Red X soon came to a locked metal door, protected by a passcode.
Too impatient to attempt cracking the code, Red X planted an X on the door's control panel, temporarily shorting out the circuits in the process. The panel blinked and flashed green, allowing him to open the door. Swiftly, he stepped into the next room, the door closing behind him. It was here that he saw an elevator. "How convenient," Red X thought, "this should take me right where I need to go."
Not wanting to press the elevator call button for fear of alerting the security system, Red X simply walked up to the door and placed an X on it, which caused it to temporarily short out and open, revealing the elevator shaft. Not able to make use of the luxury of actually riding the elevator, Red X moved into the elevator shaft, using a combination of his grappling hook and sticky Xs on his palms to climb up several floors, until stopping at one door to place an X on it, opening it up.
"I should be getting close…"
Red X climbed into the hallway, given a brief moment to assess the security in place. Security was decidedly tighter this high up. More tripwires, blinking lights on the walls which had to be motion sensors, and he could hear faint footsteps farther down the hall, but they sounded light, which meant they were human. Red X moved down the hallway, dodging tripwires and avoiding cameras. Once he came to the motion sensors, Red X paused, deciding that teleportation was the easiest way to get past the sensors without accidentally setting off a tripwire or being seen by a camera. It required a lot of Xenothium to use, but it would be worth it.
Ready to proceed, Red X pressed a button on his utility belt which activated the teleportation mechanism. His form faded from the visible spectrum, reappearing near the corner farther down, where he pressed his back to the wall while planning his next move. Since he'd only teleported a short distance, maybe the Xenothium usage wasn't quite so bad. Regardless, he knew he had enough for this particular mission. Even if they showed up…
Rolling out from the corner once the patrolling guard turned his back to continue walking his route, Red X silently trailed him, becoming aware that the guard was moving toward another, heavier set of laser tripwires lining the walls. Far too thick to simply dodge around as Red X had previously done, he'd need something else. As the guard neared the tripwires, they suddenly deactivated. Getting an idea, Red X deduced that the sensors wouldn't be a problem if he simply stuck close to the guard. Stealthily, Red X dashed to close the distance between the guard and himself, then slowed to walk just a footstep's length behind the guard. Sure enough, after getting a few steps away from the deactivated tripwires, they reactivated, and the next set began to deactivate. "Genius…" thought Red X, as he closely followed the unaware guard.
After they cleared the tripwires, the guard and his unnoticed companion next came to another set of motion sensors. These did not deactivate, however Red X noticed the normally blinking green light turn solid when the guard entered their vicinity. After seeing this, Red X figured that the sensors are probably set to respond, like the tripwires, to some kind of tech on the guard's uniform. Reacting quickly, Red X synchronized his walking pace perfectly with the guard's, remaining just behind him. After they passed the sensors, they returned to their normal state of blinking green.
As the two neared the end of the hallway, Red X began to suspect that the guard would be turning around soon to retrace his steps. Looking forward, Red X noticed a pressure sensor on the floor. The guard stepped on it, then stopped. Without another moment's hesitation, Red X leapt straight up, forming sticky Xs in his palms again to stick to the ceiling. While there, Red X determined that the pressure sensor was likely the point where the guard is meant to stop, turn, and then return down the hallway. As if to confirm Red X's thinking, the guard did in fact turn around, and begin to move back down the hallway, completely unaware of the thief just above his head. Once the guard was a safe distance away, Red X dropped back to the floor, landing silently. "Thanks, pal…" Red X thought, expressing gratitude for the unaware assistance the guard had given him. Red X then continued onward, hopping over the pressure sensor plate on the floor to reach another locked door. Treating it in a similar manner to the earlier locked door, Red X soon found himself in a vault area.
"It's gotta be here…"The room temperature was a bit cooler. Farther into the vault, Red X saw robotic guards, much larger than the human ones, and also given bigger guns. They stood motionless, seemingly standing guard over a small glass-covered pedestal between them. The pedestal housed a small cylindrical object…the object of Red X's desires. Red X also saw heat sensors on the walls, another hindrance he'd need to deal with before all was said and done. Formulating a plan of action, Red X tapped the side of his mask again to get a scan of the room.
"55 degrees Fahrenheit. I can handle that, no problem."
Red X reached into his utility belt, retrieving a small handheld can. He sprayed a thin film of cold Xenothium gas over his entire body, which lowered his external temperature to match that of the room's. Stepping into the room, he also activated an invisibility cloaking device to hide himself more fully from the robots. Finally ready, Red X dashed into the room, sprinting toward the robots, aware that he only had a short time before his external temperature would begin to rise again. Getting behind the robots, Red X deftly placed an X on the back of each one, which deactivated them. The robotic guards then slumped forward slightly, the lights on them slowly fading off to signify that they were no longer a threat. With seemingly nothing left to stand in his way, Red X moved toward his prize. Reaching the pedestal he'd sought the entire time, his hands eagerly reached out for it… and suddenly he felt the heat of an explosion behind him, back at the entrance to the vault. He crouched slightly on reflex, turning back to see what had happened while raising an arm to shield his face from dust and flying debris.
"Hold it right there, Red X!" came an all-too-familiar voice. In the resulting cloud of dust near the door, Red X could make out 5 silhouettes. They did decide to show up.
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Author's Note: Holy where-the-heck-did-they-come-from, Batman? The Titans have appeared to stop Red X in his tracks! But what is this object that Red X is trying to steal? What significance does it hold? Will Cyborg say "Booyah"? All these questions and more will be addressed in due time. Next chapter will feature some good ol' Teen Titans vs. Red X ACTION! Stay tuned!