Red X: The Series
Episode 1: X Part 1
Disclaimer: Red X and the Teen Titans are property of DC. I do not own anything.
I would like to thank my buddies Galajo and Sir Galleon for proof reading this series. As well as 'The Red X', for writing 'Once a Thief' from which I drew inspiration for this story (check it out, it's one of the few good Red X stories on the site).
Without further ado
Red X: Episode 1
The train screeched to a halt at station, opening its doors to release a swarm of people, be it returning citizens or tourists. Jump City had been attracting much more traffic ever since the appearance of a certain 'T' shaped building off the coast. Superhero fans and sightseers from all over the country were sweeping in to take a look at the magnificent structure and maybe even catch a glimpse of the city's protectors.
But he wasn't here for the Titans.
As the cloud of alighting passengers cleared a young boy stepped off the train, dressed in a plain white shirt, along with tattered jeans and a black jacket resting on his shoulders. His dark, messy hair was kept in place with a red baseball cap. Surveying his surroundings from behind a pair of shades, he placed his heavy duffel bag on the ground and stretched giving a huge yawn, the train ride had been a long a boring one and he couldn't wait to move in to his new apartment and watch some TV, once again heaving his belongings over his shoulder he casually made his way towards the exit gates.
Today was the start of his new life.
XXX
While the train ride was certainly a bore-fest, the taxi ride to his new apartment however, was a whole different story.
The taxi driver was an avid Titans fan and one could tell this by the almost disturbing amount of Titans memorabilia he had gathered on his dashboard, pictures, stickers, those dangling things that hang from the mirror and even bobbleheads ('Bobble heads?' the boy thought, 'didn't they debut only a couple of months ago?') that and he wouldn't shut up about them.
He was babbling on and on about how he had gotten all of those pictures, custom made those stupid bobble heads and even claimed to have seen the Teen Titans in action ('Gee what with all of those supervillains popping up I'd be surprised if you caught a glimpse of only one of them.')
For the most part he tried to ignore the fanboy, staring out the window at the buildings zooming by, occasionally nodding his head and giving an 'uh huh' here and there. Jump city was very different from his old town, for one thing, there was actually an abundance of people walking around the streets, carefree and innocent, going about their daily business without fear. Back at home, people were scared of coming out, especially at night, for the fear that some crazed psycho would jump out and get them…
It was somehow comforting for the boy, at the very least this place wouldn't remind him of the dark and gloomy atmosphere of his hometown, with the archaic architecture and intimidating skyline, somehow he knew he was going to like it here.
XXX
After giving the Taxi Driver a generous tip he was finally standing at the door to his new apartment.
It was not quite like what he expected to say the least, considering how much money he paid for it. Though it wasn't the same as his old place, it was a step up from living in the streets. It was small, two-story building, brick-red and dirty, the windows were slightly cracked and some were boarded up shut. It looked like it could collapse into a pile of ash from a small breeze. He walked up the steps and with the turn of a key, stepped through the creaky old door. The inside fared no better, the place had obviously not had any inhabitants for years.
Shutting the door behind him he walked into the living room, to the sight of an old and busted couch, a broken lamp and a small coffee table, the place stunk of rotting rat carcasses, but that wasn't the worst part…
There was no TV.
Angrily tossing his bag onto the couch he plopped down on it, kicking up a cloud of dust, sending the poor teen into a coughing fit. Great, now he was stuck, living in a crappy apartment with no TV. Grumbling to himself, he thought about his next move, it would take weeks for him to clean up the joint on his own, and even then he would still be living in a crappy apartment, he needed to fix this place up, pronto.
Getting up, he walked over to his duffel bag, he had planned on taking a break that day, but he needed money. He opened the bag to reveal an assortment of tools and equipment, wire cutters, lock picks, a crowbar, rope, everything he needed to get a job done.
Pulling a dark red ski mask over his face, the darkest color he could find on such short notice, the boy smirked…
Time to go to work.
But first…
XXX
A few hours later the teen was once again surveying his living room, it was now clean and smelled like pine trees. Thankfully he still had running water and electricity. Behind the couch lay some opened boxes, its contents had already been removed and used, to the corner leaned a vacuum cleaner and to the side of the couch, a very nice lamp, but one box lay unopened.
With a crazed grin on his face, the boy tore open the box, revealing a small, but nevertheless brand new television.
Yes this was going to be a fun weekend.
XXX
Within a few months the teen had transformed his rat's ass of an apartment into something a little more decent. Gone was the smell and grime, instead, he would come back to an air-conditioned home and enjoy his programs in comfort of a black leather couch. Rather than a mattress on the floor with itchy sheets, he would sleep on a bed worthy of a five star hotel room.
Life had been tough on the streets back at home and it seemed like only the thrill of thievery kept him from losing it completely, the excitement that welled up within him when he picked the lock, knowing full well that he could get caught at any second, and the sweet ecstasy that followed when he succeeded. While the others were off getting themselves killed in gang wars or doing drugs, he was off picking pockets and lifting tires. He only got caught once, and after that he thought of going straight for a while…
The new job never really worked out for him though, plus his boss was a jerk, so here he was, back in the game, the greatest thief the world had never seen.
To think he started out in this town with nothing, truly the best hobby in the world is always one you can make a profit out of. He would sure like to see the look on his old man's face if he saw all of this.
As the classy cat burglar plopped himself down on his couch and turned on his brand new widescreen plasma TV, he smiled.
Too Easy.
XXX
Really, it was too easy.
His last few heists had been… Mediocre to say the least, a cut wire there, a picked lock here and instantly he would have his hands on the merchandise. To be fair he had only been picking small targets, electronics stores, jewelers, the occasional house or two, nothing big like museums or banks. Even so the targets back at home had much higher security than here, maybe they were complacent because they had a team of superheroes on patrol, or maybe they were too busy worrying about supervillains to sweat the small stuff. Quite frankly it seemed like a chore; in the last couple of day stealing was starting to feel less like a hobby and more like…
A Job
The teen clutched his head and gave a shout of anguish. He needed to find some more challenging targets fast, heaven forbid he die from the lack of excitement. He jumped off the couch and started pacing, he needed a new target, something big. A bank? No, this job needed to be something special, something that would make up for all the excitement he had been missing out on with the small jobs, something that would give him a thrill beyond anything he had done here or back on the streets…
Out of the corner of his eye he spied an article on the front page of the local paper.
'Teen Titans foil bank robbery'
Picking up the paper, the young thief looked at the picture, depicting the old man credited as Mumbo being loaded up into a police car, with the six titans posing in the background (six? Didn't know they got a new girl).
Staring at the titans' smiling faces, he grinned.
Perfect
XXX
Along with fighting crime and saving cities, the Teen Titans were also notorious for their love of pizza. Much like any group of teenagers living together in one building, the quickest and most convenient thing to do when faced with a food shortage was to call the local pizza joint. This was not however, convenient for said pizza joint, as delivery boys would have to ride out to the coast, get into a speedboat and deliver the pizza to their doorstep all within 30 minutes, on the plus side they gave generous tips.
Meanwhile the boat was kept in a small boathouse owned by the Pizza place, where one unfortunate employee would get stuck guarding the place for hours at a time, just in case a pizza needed to be delivered.
Joe Anderson had sadly drawn the short straw at work that day, and would be trapped there for three hours for the morning shift. Not that he really needed to be there considering the Titans were out on patrol at this time. If anything he was there to make sure that nobody tried to steal the boat.
Suddenly, he saw someone running towards him, dressed in the same goofy uniform that he was in. The figure rushed to a stop in front of the man, panting heavily. Joe didn't recognize the boy, who looked up at him with his hands on his knees, a mop of bright red hair draped over his face. He must be new.
'I'm…(pant) here to…(pant) take your shift (pant)' wheezed the boy
'Huh? But my shift only just started.'
'Yeah, well, are you honestly complaining about someone offering you a two whole hours of free time?' grinned the boy.
Joe looked at the boy with a skeptical look, his grin fading; the boy got down on his knees and begged.
'Please sir, I just want to be here in case the Titans order something, it's my last day on the job before I get transferred again, please, you could go for coffee or something, I want to see my heroes one last time. Please give me you shift!' the boy wailed, grabbing Joe around the legs.
'Alright, alright geez get off me,' Joe cried, shaking the boy off, 'You can stay here for the rest of my shift, but the boat better be here when I get back!'
The boy's eyes widened, grinning from ear to ear he got to his feet and saluted, 'Thank you sir! I won't let you down! You won't regret this I promise!'
Joe rolled his eyes as he handed the boy the keys. 'Poor Chap' he thought as he walked away, the Teen titans never ordered pizza at this hour, but hey, he wasn't passing up a chance to get away from that shack.
XXX
As he waved Joe goodbye, the boy made a mental note to never do that again. It was an insult to his dignity for sure, but hopefully the payoff would be worth it.
It was simple enough to procure a uniform the night before, his wig wasn't much of a disguise, but it should have drawn the worker's attention away from the rest of his face. He rushed over to a nearby dumpster and procured his bag of tools, slipping the key into the lock on the boat shack he pushed through to the boat, the same disgusting color as his uniform.
Starting up the engine the teen could feel the excitement bubbling within him once again, this was definitely going to be fun.
XXX
Most of the other citizens of Jump City would kill to get a chance to do what he was doing now, to enter the sacred halls of the home of their biggest celebrities. What mysteries and wonders lay within? Well this devious burglar was about to find out.
As incredible it would be if he broke in through the front door, so much as breathing on that thing would probably set all the alarms off, so instead, the thief walked around the oddly shaped building, searching for another way in.
Naturally he found none.
He quickly began to wonder whether he was in over his head and that perhaps this heist was over before it even began, and then he spotted it.
It was painted white, and so well hidden that he would have missed it had he not looked at the wall a little closer. It was a ventilation shaft. The fire in his heart rekindled, the thief took a look at the potential entry point.
Part of him told him that it was futile, that a ventilation shaft was surely going to have sensors or cameras of some sort protecting it, but he had gone too far to not at least try. Pulling out his screwdriver, he carefully began to unscrew the metal grill. As they fell to the floor with soft thuds, he grabbed the grill with both hands and pulled, waiting for the inevitable sound of the alarm or for some kind of gun to pop out and spray him with goo…
Nothing
The thief cocked an eyebrow in confusion.
Picking up a nearby rock, he threw it into the vent, the rock bounced off the walls with a clatter.
Nothing
Confused, the thief crawled into the shaft and starting carefully making his way through the building, his mind cluttered with an abundance of thought: It has to be a silent alarm. It can't be this easy right? This cannot be all the Titans Tower has to offer…
He quickly found another ventilation grill. Looking through it, he could see nothing but a grey floor. Pausing for a moment, he contemplated whether he should try to get into the room below. The security inside the Tower was probably much better than the outside, no matter what his next move was, he would be taking a big risk. With a determined look, the thief smashed down on the grill and dropped down…
Right into the main security room.
What
The
Crap.
XXX
To say that it was a complete let down would be putting it harshly, but that was what it felt like to the thief.
He was inside the security room of the tower, naturally the only room without cameras as he could see by the abundance of monitors on the panel before him. He couldn't figure it out, how on earth could the security system be this weak? Looking over the panel, he noticed that most of the sensors had been rendered offline in some way or another.
Sabotage? He wondered as he rigged the camera feeds and disabled the remaining sensors, whoever did this cost him most of the thrill he was planning on getting. But he was here, and he wasn't going to leave without some kind of payoff. One monitor caught his eye, it was looking over a large vault, with a white skull on the vault door.
There's a start.
XXX
It somehow seemed like cheating, he had deactivated the security cameras and sensors and snagged the master door control on his way out, no longer did this place hold any sort of challenge for him, but really, he was too pissed to care. Someone had already robbed him of his chance for excitement, so he had might as well do some robbing of his own.
He had to act fast, after all he had to get the boat back to the shack in half an hour, a short walk and the push of a button later, and he found himself standing before the giant skull-crested door. Strangely, he could feel his heart pumping hard once again, almost as if the vault radiated some strange aura, calling out to him to help himself to the treasures within. The thief took a deep breath, pointing the master control at the door before him, he pressed the button.
Nothing happened
The contents of this vault must be really important for it not to respond to the freaking master control switch. Normally he would try to figure out the vault combo, but he was in a hurry right now. Opening his bag he pulled out a bunch of plastic explosives and started laying charges.
XXX
The thief stared at the contents of the vault, the door now a twisted mess on the floor to his left…
It was a costume
What?
Why would anyone keep a spare set of clothing in a vault?
The costume was jet black, with a stylized 'X' stretched across the chest from left to right. Along with the main costume, there was a pair of grey colored gauntlets and a similarly colored belt. But what really drew his attention was the mask; it was black, much like the rest of the costume, with a menacing skull on it, another red 'X' slashed across its right eye. As he stepped in for a closer look, he could have sworn that it was looking at him, calling to him…
The thief shook his head vigorously from side to side
That was weird
It had to be special if it was locked up in a vault like this, he thought to himself. Whatever the case, it didn't seem like this vault was checked very often, judging by the layers dust covering the door. If he was going to take anything, it had might as well be this awesome Halloween outfit.
Carefully removing each component from its place, the thief stashed the costume away in his bag. As he made his way back towards the security room, he wondered if the Titans would notice that their tower had been broken into…
Remembering that the security system had been sabotaged, he had a gut feeling that a missing suit was going to be the least of their worries that night.
XXX
That evening, the thief was in his living room, the results of his latest heist spread out on the table before him.
The suit itself didn't seem to be that special, but the accessories that came with it were certainly interesting. The mask seemed to have some kind of voice modulator inside, as he soon found out when he put it on and found that he sounded like a prepubescent Darth Vader.
Pulling on the gauntlets he found that there was another red 'X' in the palm of each glove that seemed to glow menacingly when he had the mask on, somehow he didn't think he should be testing the gloves inside the house.
The belt on the other hand, was much more interesting, moving his hand close to the panel on the front would reveal a glowing 'X' shaped button, the belt was also lined with several compartments containing all sorts of gadgets and weapons: X shaped throwing stars, lockpicks, smoke bombs and all sorts of 'X' themed weaponry. One compartment however, contained something a little different, when activated, a small cylindrical tube would pop out, a vial containing a glowing red substance that the thief knew all too well…
Xenothium
XXX
The chemical research laboratory of Star Labs was in a complete mess, just hours before, someone had broken in and rendered the whole place completely asunder, the floor was covered with shattered glass and foul smelling liquids, the lifeless bodies of the lab's scientists lay motionless on the ground. Amidst the chaos stood two caped figures, looking around for any hint as to what their perpetrator had been after.
The older of the two walked towards a nearby scientist, draped over his computer with a unnatural grin plastered on his face. The elder detective carefully pushed the scientist aside, quickly opening the last file accessed. A picture of a molecular compound flashed on screen.
'So what was he looking at?' asked his partner
'Xenothium,' replied his mentor, 'It's a rare radioactive element, powerful, but highly unstable.'
'Do I want to know what he could want with something that dangerous?'
'No, you don't. And we are not going to wait here to find out.' With that, the man turned and walked out of the room, his partner following close behind.
XXX
On one hand, the thief was shocked that the titans would be tampering with such a destructive material, and on the other, he found it hilarious. The little red boy scout and his troop playing with radioactive explosives, their parents would be so disappointed…
Clearly there was much more to this 'Halloween outfit' than he initially thought, stowing away the vial of Xenothium back in the belt, he would have to take the thing out for a test run. As he walked out of his workshop, the thief gave a tired yawn.
But first, a quick nap.
XXX
He was in a dark room, dressed in bright red, a black cape hanging loosely around him…
Suddenly, he heard a maniacal laugh and out of the darkness emerged two large, spotted beasts. The laughter continued as the two ravenous hyenas advanced towards him, drooling and licking their lips. Backed up into a corner, the teen grimaced and braced himself for battle.
Atop a pile of crates, a man in purple stood, the source of the laughter, a psychotic smile eternally plastered upon his chalk-white face…
'Sic im boys!'
XXX
The thief shot upright with a gasp, he was in his bed, in his apartment in Jump City, no rabid hyenas, no cackling lunatic. Rubbing his temples, he reached for the nearby alarm clock.
… wow.
He must have been more tired than he had thought, but then again, it had taken him the whole of yesterday evening to figure the suit out. He climbed out of bed and made his way downstairs
Within minutes the thief was now wearing the suit, it fit him perfectly, almost like it was made for him…
It was time for a test drive.
XXX
Under the cover of darkness a black figure leapt across the rooftops, his tattered cape billowing behind him. He had forgotten how exhilarating this feeling was, the rush of adrenaline coursing through him as he just barely managed to land on the next rooftop.
It was clear that the suit possessed some kind of complex circuitry that enhanced the wearer's physical capacity, there was no way he could have done this so easily without the suit. Man, he would he have loved to have this thing back when he was in his old town.
All too soon he had found himself standing in the forest near the outskirts of the city, where he was certain he could test out whatever equipment the suit came with without drawing attention to himself. Looking down at the glowing X in the palm of his hand, he pointed it at a nearby tree and concentrated.
…nothing
'Probably should have expected that.' He said to himself
He was pretty sure whom this suit was made for, the boy blunder probably felt a little insecure considering how powerful his teammates were. The thief chortled at the thought.
'If I were Robin, I'd probably have this thing wired to respond to thought somehow, I'd need it to work quickly and on the fly. Now, what would someone as boring as bird boy have as a command word…'
Sifting through a variety of different commands, the thief was jolted out of his trance when he felt something launch out of the glove, the tree before him exploded as the x shaped projectile hit the tree, sending it toppling over.
'Guess 'Fire' activates the explosives…'
XXX
The small clearing where the thief was standing was now in a colossal mess.
Aside from the smell of burning wood and the abundance of chopped up branches on the ground, the grass was stained with gooey red paste and there was one tree with an 'X' wrapped around its trunk. In the middle of this mess stood the lone figure of the black-clad thief. From the back of his gloves protruded large 'X' shaped blades, which he had just used to try his hand at being a lumberjack.
Wow, Boy blunder really thought of everything
Retracting his 'X blades' his eyes fell to the button on the front of the belt, it was the only thing he hadn't tried. Hesitating a little, he pushed down on the large button, silently praying that it wasn't some kind of self-destruct. The 'X' glowed red, and in an instant, he his vision started blurring, like a Television with bad reception, it was only for a few seconds, but it was enough to make him start panicking a little, he felt a tingling sensation in his body, an alien feeling, as if he was being pulled into another world. As his vision cleared, he looked around bewilderedly, he was still in one piece, but he was no longer in the same part of the clearing as before, rather, he was now a few meters into the forest, away from the chaos he had created.
'Teleportation… Nice…'
Now it seemed to make a little more sense that Robin had chosen to use Xenothium to power the suit, there was no way any conventional power supply would be able to provide enough energy to do this and still be efficient. Popping out the vial for a bit, he noted that he still had plenty of fuel left.
So, in addition to breaking into the titans tower, this master thief had managed to secure a suit chock full of gadgets and neat weapons, along with a teleportation device. There was now only one question on his mind.
What now?
Then it hit him, with this suit, he could now break in to any building anywhere, he didn't need to carry around his tools in a cumbersome bag and he now had an abundance of new equipment with which to conduct his heists, if he screwed up, a push of a button and he'd be home free. He could hit dozens of targets every night, rack up money beyond his wildest dreams and finally get the thrill he was looking for.
He could become a Super-Thief.
Of course, now that he was on his way to infamy, he would need a name to go with his new look. Something simple, something that was to the point but mysterious enough to actually be cool, something that said everything about him but nothing at all…
Staring at the symbol in the palm of his hand he smirked.
'Red X'
XXX
When Red X got back to the city things weren't quite the same as he had left it.
For one thing, the streets were quiet, around now there would normally be crowds of people going out to dinner and shopping and such, but today, there wasn't a single person in sight.
That and there were armies of robots patrolling the streets.
Red X watched from the top of the pizza joint as the robots silently marched orderly through the streets. He recognized them from the news reports as Slade's robots. Guess he was finally starting to take things a little more seriously.
What was more interesting however, he saw the Titans' newest member dressed in a ridiculous looking armored uniform, with Slade's symbol engraved on the front, floating through the streets on a giant boulder, quietly monitoring the robots' advance. An eerie fog blanketing the entire city…
Something weird was going on here, and Red X decided to do what any self-respecting citizen would do.
He went back home and caught up with it on the local news.
XXX
Predictably, the robots were gone by the next morning, the Titans had declined to give any statements regarding the betrayal of their newest team member. Red X didn't really care, what went on with the Titans was none of his business.
But at least now he knew who to thank for the sweet loot he scored that day.
He was planning on hitting the Jump City Museum that night, not quite as secure as the private collections of some of the city's more wealthy residents, but it would do for a test run. In the meantime, he figured he should pay it a visit to do a little 'window shopping'. Tickled by the thought of his latest scheme, the thief put on his jacket and casually walked out the door.
The life of this thieving prodigy was certainly going to get more exciting from here on end, but what Red X didn't realize was that he was in for a thrill ride unlike any he had ever experienced before.