Indebted
Summary: The Titans captured Red X and locked him in jail, but then someone else steals the suit and Robin gives chase. His pursuit of Red X will lead him to a conspiracy that will endanger the city, but Red X owes a debt, and he's going to repay it.
Chapter One: The Diplomat's Son
Tad Ryerstad, Red X was dragged away in cuffs. "This isn't over kid, just you wait. I'll be out of here in no time at all!"
"I wouldn't count on that, Tad, especially since you don't have the suit anymore," Robin turned to the officer. "I really should take this suit, it's too dangerous."
"Sorry Robin, protocol, this suit is evidence and we have to take it to the evidence locker."
Robin was hesitant to leave the man alone, the suit was dangerous, not to mention that he was sure other criminals would want the suit to aid in their activities.
The officer escorting the Red X suit to the evidence locker was met by a young man, he could be fifteen or sixteen, he was apparently some sort of prodigy. A detective of some sort.
"You're the new guy here, Detective Miles, right?" the officer asked.
"Yeah, are we alone? We're the only ones escorting this suit to the evidence locker?"
"Yeah," he replied.
"Good," Detective Miles smiled as he punched the officer in the face, knocking him out cold.
Jason Todd sighed, "Sorry about that officer, but I really need this suit."
He slipped into the Red X suit easily. "Nice threads, this will help me a lot!" he smiled. He'd be able to find her and save her.
Jason walked out of the police station, Robin had just passed him by, but saw a glimpse of red as they crossed paths.
"You, stop!" Robin shouted.
Robin pulled out his birdarangs and launched them at Red X, who was surprisingly unmasked, he was clever, attempting to walk out of the police station wearing the suit under civvies was an ingenious maneuver.
Red X retaliated by throwing a stream of Xenothium shaped X back at him, shattering his shuriken.
Jason pulled off a handsprint as he avoided more birdarangs. "You're really good, but I'm better!"
"No you're not, why did you steal the suit? What are you planning to do?" Robin demanded.
"Whatever I want, I don't want to use this suit to cause trouble, but people like you wouldn't understand!" Red X kicked him in the face. Robin staggered but retaliated with a terrific haymaker.
Jason accepted the blow and Robin kneed him in the gut, Red X began elbowing him in the face and knocked him back.
Red X held up his hands and fired a stream of X's at Robin. He used his excellent acrobatics to avoid them, flipping back with ease.
Jason took off running, he used his Xenothium to create a grappling hook and shot himself up to a rooftop. Robin followed.
"Nice night for a run!" he taunted. The two ran, sprinting from rooftop to rooftop. X easily kept his lead and Robin launched another birdarang at him, he turned a corner causing him to miss. They ran through a construction site and Red X crashed through the wooden platforms, he took out a board using his shoulder, creating a ramp for him to run down. He broke through some wooden supports and Jumped out a glass window, but not before picking up a fire extinguisher and throwing it back at Robin. He suddenly pulled out a gun and fired it, causing the extinguisher to explode, Robin managed to take cover.
Robin followed, using his parkour skills soften his landing. Red X was good, he was very acrobatic. He also had excellent parkour skills.
Red X once again pulled out a pair of guns and fired at Robin.
"You're good; you're putting on quite a show!" Robin complimented, "But this is over!"
"Not yet, Boy Wonder, it's far from over!" Red X leaped from the edge of the building. Robin used his grapple hook to grab his leg. Suddenly, Red X pulled a knife, something Tad never used, and cut the line of his grapple.
"You're very good!" Robin showed surprise. Not many blades could cut his lines, how did Red X know?
Jason jumped down to a lower building, and then leapt towards a hanging rope. Robin was impressed; the new thief planned his escape. Robin ran down the building and crashed through the glass.
Robin looked around quickly. He saw a pair of explosives ready to go off. He jumped back, taking cover as the explosion went off. He could see Red X mounting a red motorcycle and driving off.
Robin slammed his fist into the ground. What was going on? He'd track down Red X, the Titans were busy, he'd have to handle this by himself.
Jason entered the apartment, he was worried about Gloria Stanson, a woman he'd met, he'd found her while he was searching for someone, someone very important to him, but it wasn't Gloria. Gloria had been left in the bed of a shabby apartment; she'd had bruises and claimed that she'd been raped by Felipe Garzonas, the son of a diplomat who was visiting Jump City.
He'd done all the right things, filed a police report, everything, but then the diplomatic immunity came up and Gloria was scared that Felipe would rape her anytime he wanted, so Jason took it upon himself to watch over her.
"Gloria, are you all right? It's me, Jason Todd, I came to check on—Oh God, no!" he ran towards her, Gloria was hanging from the ceiling by a rope. He cut her down with Xinothium and tried his hardest to resuscitate her.
"C'mon, c'mon! Don't die on me!" He kept pumping her heart and giving her CPR, but she wasn't moving. He laid her down on the floor and closed her eyes, sighing sadly. He called the police and reported it. He had to leave.
He began to scour the city, keeping out of sight and looking for Felipe in all his usual hangouts, he found the man in a bar and crashed through the door.
"Felipe Garzonas!" Red X screamed in anger, he attacked the druggie with a furious rage that startled the man.
"Kill 'em boys!" Felipe ordered. Six thugs rushed as Jason, who used his Xenothium gadgets to subdue them, he pinned three to the wall in a stream of red goo, the other three, he sent X's through their hands, they screamed in pain as he embedded shuriken in their legs.
Jason grabbed Felipe by his throat, and punched him in the face, he kept striking him with his fists, he was doing it for Gloria, who had never been able to defend herself from him, he was going to make the monster pay for raping and murdering an innocent girl.
The man tried to run away, but Red X gave chase, he wasn't going to get away. Up onto the roofs they went and Jason cornered him near the roof's edge.
Jason was shaking with rage, it'd be so easy to throw him off the roof, but he needed to keep a clear head, Red X was already a thief, he didn't want to make it worse by being a murderer, his mind worked quickly, Felipe Garzonas couldn't be put in jail because of diplomatic immunity, but he came up with a clever solution.
He remembered her words of wisdom, "You don't have the right to kill, as easy as it is to do that. I was murdered and I remembered my killer was smiling. I don't want you to be like that."
"Come with me!" he growled, dragging Felipe away.
Jason cuffed him and changed his clothes. He escorted Felipe to the Jump City Police Department.
"Detective Miles, you're back," another officer, not the one he'd knocked out greeted him.
"This is David "Tipper" Coates, he's a druggie from the south side of town, book him!"
"That's not my name!" Felipe screamed. Jason showed them the doctored ID he'd created. It worked like a charm.
The officers dragged Felipe away, Jason smiled, perhaps there was some justice after all.
Returning to his simple apartment, he remembered how he'd met her, the woman who rescued him from being kidnapped while he was visiting Haly's Circus. She'd been amazing, fighting them off and helping him escape, they'd been traveling together until she decided to settle down in Jump City. She said her son lived there and that she needed to stop a criminal organization from taking over the city.
She wouldn't let him get involved, but she had taught him how to fight, Jason had always been a street brawler, but she'd taught him martial arts and marksmanship. He was an excellent shot with a gun and could only be matched by her as a knife thrower.
Jason had always admired Robin, thought it would be awesome to run around in a costume and fight baddies. But he put it out of his mind, but he knew he would need a costume, because of the day when they came and she had to fight them off, and they ended up taking her away while she bought him time to escape.
Now he had a mission, he had two days to find her, but first he needed to get something important, Electrum, and he knew that they had scientists who made that stuff, so he'd find one of them, and steal some for her.
He broke into the science lab, a front for the criminal cabal. He used his Xenothium to bypass the security system. He crept through the building searching for anyone in the labs.
A woman was standing at her lab table, doing some research, she gasped when she felt a knife at her throat.
"I don't want to hurt you, but you'll do something for me, nod if you understand.
She nodded fearfully.
"Can you make Electrum, specifically to this formula?" he showed her the paper. She nodded again.
"You'll make me this, and then I'll leave, and it will be like nothing ever happened."
She followed his instructions, to the letter, she handed him the formula, her hands shaking.
"I was never here!" Red X said, he vanished out the window. The woman fell to her knees. What was that all about? Red X didn't usually steal anything related to scientific formulas. She made her way to the hall and hit the Titans alarm button, sending the sirens blaring.
Red X sighed in frustration, "That's just great! Now I'm going to have to deal with Bird Boy and his friends." He had to split now, he had to find her and rescue her. She'd given him specific instructions.
"The Teen Titans can help you, they're more than willing to help anyone in trouble, give Robin this bracelet, he'll understand an he'll help you, even if you didn't give it to him. Don't be reckless; I'll survive long enough for you to find me. No one is going to kill me again. Just do as I say, all right?"
"I know you told me to go to the Titans, that they'd believe me if I told them that you needed to be rescued, all I had to do was give Bird Boy this bracelet, but I won't rely on them, I'll get you out of there, and I'll save Jump City. Just hold on a little longer!"
Jason leaped out into the night.
She was chained to a wall, dehydrated, tired, thirsty, she didn't think she could feel those things anymore, because of the Electrum in her system.
A man looked at her, sneering wickedly. "He won't be back for you, the brat ran away and saving him was for nothing!"
"The Court of Owls will burn, I'll destroy it all, and even if you killed me again, someone else will finished what I started."
William Cobb struck her across the face, "Silence fool!" He turned and left.
The woman smiled, "I'll burn the Court of Owls to the ground, you people rely on your money to protect you, but it'll be gone, and you'll be powerless, my friend is doing all he can, he'll come for me soon."