Like always, I'm completely sorry for taking so long to update. I blame it mostly on high school, reading, and writing. Anyway, I hope you guys will like this. I believe it will be fantastic, and I will do my best to update as soon as possible. Don't lose faith in me!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Enjoi

Chapter Two

Villains


Red-X P.O.V

I woke up to the bright sunlight streaming through the slight gap between the crimson curtains, courtesy of Starfire of course. The palms of my hands reach up and rub the sleep out of my eyes. I rolled my neck to the right to look at the watch Kelsey and Vladimir gave me last week. It created a small prism on the wall from the bright light. The face of the watch reads five in the morning. Workin' time.

Rising from the tangled sheets, I shake my head because I really don't want to go on this stupid business trip to Gotham today. I'll be gone for a week! I'll be away from friends and family. Especially Raven. Speaking of which, I should probably go check on her.

I jump out of my bed and head down the hall, to the right, down another gray hallway, to the left, down the stairs, and to the left again. I swear, Bird-Boy put our rooms as far away from each other on purpose.

I don't need the code to enter her room because she doesn't lock it anymore, knowing that I'm the only one who's dumb enough to bother her in the mornings. The door slides open and step through only to find her bed empty. Shock, confusion, then worry, then a slight twinge of suspicion flood my system. I turn on my heel and continue down the hall for a little bit before I find her right where I figured she'd be; in front of Beast Boy's door.

The slight Goth is curled up on the floor in front of his door. Damn him! I think. I can't stand him having such an effect on her! I kneel down to her side and lift her into my arms bridal style. Her head falls on my chest giving me better access to see her face. There are tear tracks down her cheeks, and even though her eyes are closed, I can still see the pink tinge that line her eyelids.

I pass through Raven's doorway again, and set her on her bed. It's been like this for the past week. I wake up, go to check on her, go to Beast Boy's door, bring her back to her room, and try to ignore the pain that always seems to invade my chest as she ends up mumbling Beast Boy's name as I leave.

Raven starts to mumble slightly again. "Beast…Boy…I'm…sorry…" There's a pause as she curls tighter in on herself. I kneel beside bed and give her a slight kiss on her head. When I'm about to leave, she begins to mumble again. "For him…" I couldn't understand what Raven said after that. It was too quiet, but then she started to continue to mumble. "Nothing to me…I love…" Nothing else. It was all incoherent gibberish. However, I could already feel those last words starting to eat away at me. I needed to get out of her room. I needed to get out of the tower. Robin should be up. I'll give him a letter to pass to Raven when she awakes later.

I sprinted back to my room. My bags were already packed for the week. I tore off all my clothes when I entered my bathroom. Jumping into the shower stall, I turn on the water. It takes every bit of my self-control not to scream. 'Nothing to me…I love…' What meant nothing to her? Was it me? Did I not mean anything to her anymore? Who did she love? Him or me? My head started to feel very tight all of a sudden. Almost like a vise had been placed on my mind. Great.

The water turned cold and I initially turned off the water. I grabbed the set of clothes I had lay out last night; a red dress shirt, black dress pants, black square toed dress shoes, and a black silk tie. I stopped in front of the mirror and just stare at my reflection for God knows how long.

Only word comes to mind as I stare at my mirrored image. Rough. My black spiky hair is jagged and everywhere. There are bags under my sapphire eyes, which are blood shot. I hadn't been sleeping well lately. I kept having nightmares of my mom…No. Don't go there. I thought. I smooth my hair down and rub at my eyes hoping that my sick and sullen appearance will disappear. Before I leave, I grab a piece of stationary, and a pen.


Something clicks into place as I'm heading down the hall to the main ops room. I change directions, drop my bags, and sprint back down the hall to his room. I know he's up. He never sleeps. Ever. So it just makes me even more outraged when I realize that he can hear Raven's cries, her pleads, her whimpers, but doesn't do a damn thing.

I bang on his door, and it only takes a few seconds for the changeling to open the door. At first sight of him all I can think is, and I thought I looked sick…

"What do you want?" He growled slightly and I know I'm not welcome, but I could really care less.

"Do me a favor, kid. Take care of her while I'm gone." It feels like bile in my mouth as I speak. "Don't hurt her, unless she says otherwise. Don't leave her alone, unless she says otherwise." He narrows his eyes in suspicion, but he knows I'm not lying.

"Anything else?" Beast Boy crosses his arms. More bile rises, but I choke it down. "Yeah, don't touch her in any way or I will have your head on my mantle…unless she says otherwise." His eyebrows rise at this, but then his shocked expression soon melts to one of utter smugness. "Really?"

I grit my teeth. "Yes."

He chuckles. "Then I'd start worrying if I were you. Because I can bet you she'll have said otherwise before your trip is over, X." Beast Boy's grim expression returns as the door slides close.

As his words sink in I'm too late. He locked his door, and all I can do is to hold in the scream that's working it's way up my throat. I turn and head back down the hall. I pass her door and can hear her stirring. The sound causes me to pick up the pace and I finally reach the main ops room.

Just as I suspected, Robin's there, reading the paper and drinking his coffee. "Morning, Grayson." I mumble. He looks up and gives me a slight smirk. "Hey, there, Cassinger. Ready for your trip today?" I shove my problems down and shrug with my signature smirk plastered on my face. "Sure, why not? But can you do something for me?"

Boy Blunder takes a sip of his coffee before he answers. "Yeah. What do you need?" I hand him the letter. "Give this to Raven when you see her. Which will be soon. She was waking up when I passed her door just now." Picking my bags back up, I head for the door that'll lead me to the garage. At least, I was until he spoke up. "Well, then why don't you wait for her? I mean you have enough time."

I stiffen. Damn. Didn't think about that. "No, uhm, I need to get going. I'll see you later." I begin to walk again as I shout over my shoulder. "Oh, and be sure to remind the green kid that I'll always fight no matter what the hell he does." With that the doors close and I head to the elevator. When I get to the garage, I pop the trunk door and throw my luggage inside.

As I slide into the driver's seat, a voice scares me so much that I seriously jump and hit my head on the ceiling of the car. "What're you doing, Cassinger?"

Kelsey. I look over and see her sitting in the passenger seat with a knowing look and her arms crossed.

I straighten and run my hand through my hair. "Jesus, Kels. Quit doing that. You're gonna give me a heart attack." The Porsche purrs as the engine comes alive. "I will if you stop doing this."

I smirk. "What? Starting my car? Sorry, but I have meeting to attend to." She rolls her eyes. "No. I meant stop dodging questions. I hate it when you do that." I sit back. "Okay. What was the question again."

"What are you doing?"

I sigh. "Running."

"And…?"

I turn on her. "And? There is no and! All it is is me running!" I run my hands through my hair again.

Again, she rolls her eyes. "Cody, you're not just running. You're hiding, too. You're hiding what you want, what you need, what you feel. Not exactly the best thing to do. Am I right?" I nod.

"Right. Now, don't worry. Vlad, Jasp, and I will keep a close watch on the green bean. For now, do your best at the conference, 'kay? I know you aren't going to hold onto Cassinger Enterprises for much longer, but at the moment, you have to act like you are." She smirked and began to open the passenger side door. "I gotta go. I'll see you next week. We'll notify you of any changes with your little love triangle situation." I glared at her, and she just laughed. "Catch ya later." She climbs out of the car then turns back around. "Oh, by the way, Charlotte sends her regards. Yeah, she's back in town. Jasp's ecstatic. I know. Vlad and I were surprised, too. But, we're all back together now sort of. At least we will be when you get back."

I nod to her as I try to control the shocked expression on my face. As she walks away, I pull out of the garage and start to drive down the underwater tunnel.


In an hour, I pull up to my hotel. It's Gotham's best hotel, requested to me by Bruce Wayne himself. The top floor, the floor I'll be staying on, is under slight construction, but they end at nine, so I should be able to sleep. At least that's what Wayne told me. The valet up front takes my keys as the bellhop takes my luggage. I hate being waited on so I ignore the bellhop's protests, tip him for the effort, and take my own bags up to my room after I check in.

The room is spacious and decorated in blues, golds, and silvers. Nice. There's one queen-sized bed, with a master bathroom off to the right. A small kitchen takes only a corner of space about thirty feet from the door. There's a flat screen television that sits on an oak entertainment center across from a grand couch in the middle of the living space. I have a meeting in an hour so I might at least relax for now. I walk to my bed swiftly and lay down on my back.

This is all so hectic. I don't want to leave Raven there with Beast Boy, but I don't really have any choice. There's no doubt, no matter how much she denies it, Raven really does love the changeling. Ouch. A shot of pain flashes through my chest, and I cringe slightly.

In the midst of all my thoughts, I ended up falling asleep. I woke up an hour later and jumped up. I had to run to my meeting, which was on the bottom floor. This was such terrible room placement considering that I have to book it down fifty flights of stairs. Elevators are way too slow.

As I arrive in the large conference room, everyone except one man welcomes me who I've never seen before. His hair is a deep gray, with blue-white eyes. Deep set wrinkles cover his face and he never smiles. I don't know why, but every instinct I have is telling me to leave the conference, go back to the tower, and lock my door. At one point in the meeting, both our eyes meet and a shiver of fear runs down my spine. I want to get up and walk away, but this is important.

For the rest of the meeting I can barely concentrate. I can sense rather than see his eyes boring into the side of my head. I mumbled a lot, lost my place frequently, and was caught zoning out more often than not, definitely not a good start for the week.

Mr. Wayne dismisses us all, and the man rises from his seat only to bolt from the room. As soon as he leaves it feels as if a great pressure has been lifted and I realize I've been holding my breath. Clearing my head I nod to Bruce and follow suit of the man.


When I reach my room I toss my bag to the side. My suitcase lies on my bed and I open it quickly. After pushing several different clothes aside, I find it. The Red-X suit. I'm not sure as to why I brought it but I did. Shaking my head I close the suitcase and turn away.

I don't have another meeting until tonight. It's five o'clock in the afternoon now. That meeting must've taken longer than I thought… I grab a water and sit on the couch. The remote lies on the coffee table in front of me. Right as I'm about to pick it up I hear the sound of paper being slid underneath my door.

I look up and sure enough, a small, square, and white envelope is sitting on the floor only inches from the door. I stand up to make my way to the letter.

Before I open the envelope, I open the door and look down the hallway. Nothing. I shrugged as I tore the paper open. A small card with black curvy writing sits in my palm. It reads:

'Dear Mr. Cassinger,

Meet me on the roof thirteenth warehouse at pier 17.

We have issues to discuss.'

I can't help but laugh at the mediocrity of this letter. What was this? Some movie about the mafia? Then another card slipped under the door. This time though, it wasn't in an envelope. Just a card with the same handwriting on it. I leaned down to read it.

'Sleep well.'

That's when I smelt it. The gas leak. I whirled around and searched the room with my eyes. There. At the top of the wall above my bed a vent was spilling a translucent gas out into my room. I grabbed a towel out of the bathroom and sprinted to my bed.

I tried to smother the gas, but it started to seep through the material. I jumped off the bed and ran for the door. I grabbed to doorknob and twisted, but it didn't budge. I tried again. Nothing. I hit the door over and over again with my shoulder, trying to open it.

This was pointless. I stepped back and ran my hands through my hair. I tried my last resort. "Help! Anyone! Please! My door's stuck!" I was banging on the walls with everything I had when I started to cough. I ran back to the door and started to hit it again. "Open this damn door!" I yelled. It kinda felt good to yell after everything I'd pent up inside me all day.

Then I heard something in the distance; hammers. I forgot about the construction-taking place at the end of the hall. "No! Someone! Please!" An idea lights up and I swear an light bulb popped up above my head. I started to run to my bed again. I ripped open my suitcase and grabbed the yellow communicator Robin gave me at least four months ago. I flip it open and press the red emergency button. I'm starting to feel light headed, but I'm going to do everything I can to get out.

My resist to the gas is starting to weaken greatly and I can barely stand. I try to run to the nearest window that's on the far side of the hotel room when suddenly my legs can't carry me fast enough.

I collapse.


Tah-dah! Okay, now be honest, who's royally pissed off at me right now? Whether it's cuz I took so long to update or because of the ending I don't know. You can tell me though. No flames, but feel free to be angry. Review!

Catch ya later,

Table for Two