Disclaimer: Teen Titans © Warner Bros. & DC Comics

A/N: Parenthesis are not author's notes.

P r o l o g u e

If you are just reading this (which I hope you aren't because then you are wasting not only my time, but yours also because there is a good chance you won't understand a thing) or you have just forgotten a little bit, my name is Mariander Jean Grayson. If you remember my previous account, when the TTNG was just created, you will remember that this is 100 percent true and it will—with luck—buy my freedom from my father. According to Detective Marquez, my account will be combine with Xavier Redson's, and Red X's accounts of what had happened to make it easier for the reader to understand. I think that it is a stupid idea, but I have little choice. Although I am happy to say this will be mostly my thoughts.

To have a small hope of understanding anything I say for the rest of this section or book or whatever you want to call this chunk of my life, you must understand three things: xenothium (I think I touched up on that last time, but if I didn't I'll do it now, the conflict of the Jokerz and the Xs, and Red X himself. For the rest of my account, both this one and later ones, these three will play a huge role.

People say that money is the root of all evil. I for one think that is total bullshit, at least in this day and age. Maybe in the past, like in 1980 or 2008, it was, but now it isn't. The root of all evil is more valuable than money. It is liquid, red, and can be injected into your body. The root of all evil is xenothium. If you follow are familiar with the Teen Titans' earlier work, before Slade's murder, you would know that xenothium powered the infamous Red X's suit and belt. When I turned 21 and got my first real job, I dedicated a good part of my life to study xenothium. Ask me anything about it and I can answer you with ease. I know that xenothium was discovered in 2009 by Professor Chang. My father, the first Red X, bought some off him to power the first ever Red X suit. After that, it was used for the second Red X's suit, military weapons, and eventually drugs. Some idiot got his hands on xenothium decided that he would put it into a medical syringe and inject it into their body. Sure, they got a buzz. They grew a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, their senses become extremely heightened, and if they were lucky, they might be able to teleport for about ten minutes. Of course, like all people except a few (very lucky) people, they got XODD (Xenothium Overdosage Disorder), which was pretty much the AIDS of our time. It was almost exactly like Russo's Disease and attacked the same body systems: nervous and respiratory. People with XODD had "seizures", which meant they would become incoherent and begin trembling. They would experience great pain—mostly in the abdomen and would start gasping in and out. If they didn't begin to hyperventilate it was a miracle. And yet, people would literally kill to get xenothium. Go figure.

As you must know by know, I used to be a member of the most famous gang in Gotham City, the Jokerz. Of course, no one, not even the TTNG, knew that. I told no one and my "good girl" reputation died because I began doing...small things that would get me in trouble. Like fighting in school, drinking on school campus, and being a total smart-ass. Like most Jokerz, I was trained to hate one group more that anything—even more that Jokerz were supposed to hate Batman and Barbara Gordon, my father's (Nightwing) mistress. And that group was the Xs, or the Red Xs. They were named after Red X himself. After he got a hold of xenothium, he got XODD and disappeared. Some people say he gave his girlfriend XODD and knocked her up. She supposidly died shortly after having his son, who no doubt had XODD also. Besides Red X himself, his son was supposed to be our greatest enemy. Soon, however, he became a laughing stock. I would sit with my friends, Murray, DJ, and BJ, in the back of Murray's van and we would joke around about who this mysterious son was and what he looked like since he had XODD. We settled on 4 feet tall, dark red skin, red eyes, and light red, sometimes gray, hair. At first, the Jokerz just hated the Xs because they always got in our way. They were always on our turf. After all, we robbed museums and performed grand theft auto and arson. They robbed parking meters and spray painted "Jokerz suck" on the wall of the police station. Like that was very threatening. But one day, an X killed a Joker for blowing him off and ever since the two gangs have fought against one another. Dane Matthews, the leader of the Jokerz and the man who killed my best friend, Murray, began marking Jokerz when they joined up. Soon, he made older Jokerz mark new Jokerz after they were initiated. Murray marked me and BJ when he later joined, I marked DJ when she later joined. The marking was different for both males and females. Boys had an X carved into their stomachs, just beneath their belly buttons. Girls, like DJ and me, had an X carved right between their breasts. Our marks were symbols of our loyalty. It said that if we were ever caught with an X and we weren't about to kill them, we would die. To prove our hatred of the Xs, Dane even went as far as to hang some of their bodies, plus the bodies of Jokerz who betrayed the gang to the Xs, in our hideout's basement. Maybe being around the bodies made me unafraid of corpses. One day, Dane organized a raid, shortly after we found out where their main hideout was in Jump City. I was supposed to go, but Murray begged Dane spare me from going. I was upset, but I felt a little better about staying when I heard about the Joker casualties. But the most shocking news of all was that Dane had singlehandedly murdered the Xs leader, Jim Shane. We were ecstatic to hear this—until we found out who replaced him. Some guy whose name I couldn't remember and his accomplice. Red X's son, the new Red X. Two years later, after Murray was killed and I was in juvie, the Xs went on a raid in our hideout and killed half the gang—two times the amount we had killed.

Red X...To be honest, I never really gave him much thought when I lived in Gotham. I knew his father had become Crimson Death (don't you love it when reporters name, or rename, you without your consent and you end up with a shitty name?) and he didn't do that much stealing anymore, but that was it. But the moment I met him, my life was never the same again. So to properly start off this portion of my story, I'll begin by saying it all began on December 31, 2027.

0O0O0

Darkness was falling on Gotham. The snow looked beautiful in the bright streetlights. Snow was piled up on stoops and in people's hair, but they didn't care because a new year was coming. Didn't loose those twenty pounds like you promised yourself last year? Didn't stop cheating on your wife or girlfriend like you wrote down in your New Years Resolutions? Who cares! It's a new year! You can lie to yourself this year too! Of course, I didn't give a damn about New Years. This was a very sad day for me. This was the one year anniversary of Murray's death. In fact, the only reason I came to Gotham was to visit Murray's grave—legally this time. It was nearly midnight and I had spent the last three hours contemplating in front of his grave wondering what would have happened if things had gone differently. Now I was cold, my ass hurt from sitting too long, and since I had lost track of time, in a hurry.

I saw an alley up ahead and ducked into it. With any luck, I'd be home before the Ball, Gotham's version of the famous ball-dropping in New York, fell. I wasn't paying any attention to my surroundings and what was going on, which on any other day, would have gotten me killed. But luckily today was New Years Eve and every Joker within city limits was getting drunk and high off xenothium. I looked up, however, and cursed loudly. I walked into a dead end.

"My, my, my, what do we have hear?" A voice said in false sympathy. I whirled around to see two men blocking my way out. One was very tall and skinny. He had literally dirty blonde hair and a scraggly beard. The other was very fat and short, but still taller than me.

"Looks like a little lost bird." The fat one laughed. I smirked. I was longing for a good fight. The tall one began laughing too.

"Maybe we should help her." This, however, made the fat one nervous.

"What if she has a boyfriend nearby?" He asked. I thought of my boyfriend, Jesse, and quietly laughed to myself. I loved him, but he wasn't very good at taking out two wannabe rapist by himself.

"My boyfriend is in Jump City." I said lazily. I leaned against the back wall of the alley. The two smiled eagerly at each other. I slipped a hand up my blouse and pulled out a batarang, but didn't open it.

"So no one can stop us!" The tall one said with glee. I opened my mouth to disagree with him, but someone beat me to it.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, gentlemen."

"Who said that!?" The tall one demanded.

Suddenly, someone jumped off of the nearest building into the ally with grace. The two men paled. I felt my jaw drop open in shock. It was Red X—the Red X! I had never seen him before. He was maybe half an inch taller than me at least. Any weight he had was muscle. He was really skinny—almost scrawny if it wasn't for the little bit of muscles he had. His uniform was whiter than the snow the was falling all over Gotham and unlike the first two Red Xs, he didn't have a cape. I moved along the wall a little bit to see his mask. It was white like the uniform, but over the right eye there was a red X. There were two black eye holes, but they wouldn't let anyone see his eyes. The glass material looked so familiar to me, but I couldn't tell where. Maybe the Jokerz had stolen some at one point.

"Are you okay?" Red X asked me.

"Huh?" I said. I hadn't really paid attention to him—just his appearance.

"Did they hurt you?" Red X asked. I could detect concern in his voice, but not very much. I was probably just a damsel in distress to him.

"No, you know I—." I started, but the men interrupted me.

"Please don't hurt us, Mr. Red X, sir!" The tall one begged. The fat one could only blubber and stutter like an idiot.

"Get out of here." Red X said in disgust. "You two are pathetic." The two men ran away.

"I could have taken care of them myself." I said putting the batarang away. He looked at me.

"What's your name?" He asked me.

"Go Away. What's yours?" I growled. He laughed.

"You're a real cutie." He said grabbing my nose playfully. I pulled away.

"Get off me, bastard!" I snapped.

"That's not very polite." He chided.

"I'm not a polite girl!" I said stepping forward. With almost inhuman speed, he put an arm around me and pulled me close.

"You should be a little more thankful." He said seriously. "I just saved you from getting gang raped from a couple of wannabe Jokerz that were high on xenothium."

"Thank you," I said, "but I could have saved myself. You didn't have to waste your time."

"TEN!" People outside began to chant.

"Oh no," I moaned. "The damn ball!"

"NINE!"

"Oh really?" Red X said in a suggestive voice.

"EIGHT!"

"SEVEN!"

"SIX!"

"What are you doing?" I asked trying to pull away. Great, I was saved from getting gang raped by a couple of idiots by now my "savior" was going to rape me!

"Don't be afraid." He said playfully. With his free hand he pulled at the bottom of his mask and began to go upwards.

"FIVE!"

"FOUR!" He stopped pulling the mask up. I could see his pale skin underneath the shadows. It looked so soft, but probably warm like his touch.

"THREE!"

"TWO!" He pulled me even closer...

"ONE!" Just as the ball fell, Red X's lips touched mine. Fireworks went off somewhere outside the city, but they also went off in my head. My mind began to blur. My body that had been fighting him a few minutes before was now limp. To my surprise, I realized I was kissing him too! Everything about his kiss and touch was different from my boyfriend's. Red X's kiss was gentle and loving; Jesse's kisses were short and a little rough. Red X's touch was soft and lingering; Jesse's was quick and often forced.

Finally, we broke apart. I couldn't say a word but, just from looking at his mouth as he pulled his mask down, I could tell Red X was pleased with himself. He had to be the cockiest bastard I had ever met. The way he spoke was in a cocky tone, the way he held himself was with a cocky way, I even believed that he kissed like a cocky person. But maybe I was just making that last part up.

"Well, I'd better get going." He sighed, "Catch you later, cutie."

"Hey!" I shouted as he disappeared into thin air. "I AM NOT CUTE!! WAIT, YES I—DAMMIT! I MEAN...DAMN YOU, RED X!!" I screamed into the night sky. I could have sworn I heard laughing from above. I sighed and ran off, realizing I was seriously late.

0O0O0

"I AM NOT CUTE!! WAIT, YES I—DAMMIT!! I MEAN..." I heard her scream. Come on, I thought. "DAMN YOU, RED X!!" I couldn't help but laugh. I sat on the top of the building at watched her run off into the crowded street. Suddenly, I regretted not forcing her to tell me her name. I remembered he saying to one of those idiots that she had a boyfriend. I felt sorry for the bastard—but also jealous. He probably didn't know how lucky he was.

"Boss." I looked up and to my right. It was one of the new initiates, but I couldn't remember his name.

"What?" I asked in a bored voice.

"We're all done. You told us to get you—."

"Oh," I said, "Yeah. It's about damn time." I got up and looked at the New Years crowd, scanning for her face or maybe just her raven hair. I couldn't. "Let's go." I said.

0O0O0

I slipped into my "grandfather's" mansion without making any noise. Ace, Grandpa Bruce's dog, walked up to me and began licking my hand affectionately.

"Hey, boy." I whispered. "Everyone's asleep, huh?"

"Not everyone." I winced and looked up to see my father. "Where were you, Mari?"

"Long story."

"I've got time."

"I nearly got gang raped by a couple of X-heads," I said using the nickname for people who used xenothium, "Red X saved me, and the lip raped me." I pointed to my lips. "Happy?" I asked. I went upstairs, leaving my father speechless. I slipped through the halls like a ghost and entered my room silently. "Free at last." I sighed. Just then, I felt two arms quickly slip around my waist. "Oh not you again!" I moaned, thinking it was Red X.

"I love you too, Mari." Jesse laughed. I forced a smile. I didn't know why, but I felt slightly disappointed.

"I thought you were some asshole who gave me a hard time today."

"Really?" He said. "Poor thing." He bent forward and began planting kisses on my neck.

"Shouldn't you be spending New Years with your parents?" I asked.

"I did." He grunted, before returning to kissing me again. I rolled my eyes. Jesse was the son of the famous Kid Flash and Jinx, and was gifted with his father's power of super speed and his mother's power of jinxes. Unfortunately, he got screwed in the appearance area. He was a perfect copy of his father except for his pink eyes. I mean, his dad's pretty handsome, but what teenage boy in their right mind would want pink eyes? Since we began TTNG, he also began letting his short red hair grow out.

"We have school tomorrow, don't we?"

"Depends on what you call tomorrow." Jesse said between kisses.

"Jesse James West," I growled. "If you leave a hickey on my neck, collarbone, or my chest again, I'll kill you. Or," I smiled evilly, "I'll show your mother and she'll kill you." He stopped kissing me. Despite the fact that Jen was slowly dying of Russo's disease, a disease she had gotten a few years before Jesse was born, Jen was not a person you wanted to piss off. Seriously. Jesse and Wally knew that from experience. Lots of experiences.

"Technically," He yawned, "we do have school tomorrow. Since it starts on January second."

Ever since we almost beat Rose in June, Cat, Randy, and I wanted to return to public school. We had been home schooled before (except Randy and me who had been in public school. He got expelled, I got sent to jail and then moved to Jump City). Unfortunately, it took six months to get our paper work fixed so that we could be properly enrolled. Cat was excited, but Randy and I couldn't care less. We've been to school before, so we couldn't care less. Luckily for Randy, there were 2 high schools in Jump City, so he could go back to school.

Before I could stop him, Jesse pushed me against the door and began kissing my collarbone again. Slowly he began working his way down. I felt an unpleasant creeping sensation rack my whole body and I was reminded of Red X's gentle caresses. I shook my head to banish those thoughts and pushed Jesse away.

"Stop it." I said sternly. Jesse shot me a hurt look.

"Alright." He sighed, "I gotta get going."

"Bye." I said without any emotion. He left and leaned against the wall feeling unsatisfied.

A/N: That is the first chapter of TTNG: Book 2! I'd like to thank my wonderful beta writer, Somewhere In Time, for helping me with this.