….
Jason's point of view:
"Uuuuhhhhnnn…." I wake up on my couch, in costume minus my helmet, with what could be the third worst hangover of my life.
"What happened last night?" I remember going to a bar, having some whisky, then on my way home.. I saw some girl was about to get gang raped. And I stopped them with, Red X? After we saved her….
" Cool, maybe we can team up? I've been getting pretty bored killing these guy's buy myself lately."
"Oh dear lord! I sounded like the lonely kid at a new school." I shake my head. I can barely talk to people sober, but after a few whiskey's, I'm the peppy girl at school?! And after we split up… I got some tequila.
It's gonna take all day before I can see straight.
Alex's Point of View:
It's a common scenario. The hero of the story is sleeping peacefully and slowly wakes up from his slumber to see a beautiful girl standing by his bed, about to wake him up. I've seen it a lot of times on TV but waking up to it is a different story. Especially when the girl is a rich brat who really shouldn't know where I live since I didn't tell her my secret identity.
"Holy Schmidt!" I hit my head off of the wall when I see April standing over me.
"You don't have to be rude." She sighs. "A little hottie like me comes to pay you a visit in this dirty little hovel and all you can do is scream like a little girl?
"What are you doing here…Lady I do not know?"
"Give it up." She tells me with her confident smile. "I know you're Red X, . And I've known it for a while. What really gave it away was your voice.. Then there was the fact that you fall off the grid before that. Being rich I can donate quite a bit of money in exchange for information. Anyway, get up. I made you breakfast."
I've learnt how to stay aware in my sleep but last night I ended up more tired than usual. What happened to my booby traps? I learn the answer to that when I walk into my living room/kitchen and see the pile of wires and darts on the floor.
"The darts where a nice touch." Charlotte tells me when I sit down to eat and she drops a plate of what I'm sure was supposed to be eggs and waffles. "Silent and tipped with a sleeping agent designed to keep a target down for hours. "
"What is this?" I ask her as I try to get some of the charcoal onto my fork.
"Food. Eat it." I sigh, fearing this will be my last meal. It turns out not to be that bad, but not exactly better than McDonald's.
I sit on my couch, and listen to this crazy person talk. I notice my stomach start's to ache a little, and glare at her. "Please, for the sake of the world, work on your cooking skills!"
April rolls her eyes. "Food wasn't why I came over here anyway. I wanted to bring you to see what I've got for Red X."
"And why should I care?"
"I tried to be nice." She sighs and walks over to my window, opening it and turning back to me. "I guess I have to tell the world that you're Red X. And you can't kill me here since you don't know if I've told anyone or recorded it somewhere. Maybe I have a letter written somewhere that says something like "I learnt that Alex Carter was Red X and he threatened to kill me if I didn't entertain his sick sexual fanatics. I'm afraid for my life but he says he'll kill me if I don't do what he says"."
"Where are we heading?" I pull my aching body off of the couch.
"To our "secret lair"."
Dadadadadadada! Meanwhile in the "secret lair". April took me to this apartment overlooking the city.
"My dad built this place before he died. He said it was a testament to some sort of symbolic tower of babel crap. This whole building is part of my inheritance. I've had it modified with state of the art security equipment which is fully automated, but I can give you the run down. You can see the whole city from the window and we're right by a train station. Since the building is located near the middle of the city it is a great place for a tower." She brings me over to a wall.
"But even though it looks like an expensive luxury hotel room, it's got ton's of hidden rooms." She presses her hand against the wall and it drops down to reveal a secret room full of weapons.
"Now, I heard you liked to use shuriken, like Batman's boomerangs so I had a lot of those made up with different abilities. This one over here explodes and this one is a gas bomb. When you hit the switch this one is set to become electrified after ten seconds. These grappling hooks are set with a special surface structure that uses electrical charge to stick to any surface. We've been working on a way to make you invisible too but that will have to wait a while."
"How did you do all this stuff?" I ask her.
"My parents where supporters of Wayne Enterprises and believe it or not, a lot of the parts needed for the equipment where ordered at a time from that company. We just asked the providers to double their shipments of what we needed and send it to us. My parents did some weapons testing for safe arms. Like gin's that shoot non-lethal adhesive. Because of that he would also buy a lot of weapons like tanks and guns so he could one up them and make his non-lethal stuff more efficient."
"He sounds like he was a good person. Sorry for your lose."
"He and my mom died a couple years ago, so I'm over it. Right now I need to focus on my first and only issue. You need to try some of this stuff on and get fitted for a new suit."
"I like my suit."
"I'm sure you do. But if you're working with me you do it in style. And no hood. It's too easy to grab."
"But I look cool."
"You look like a tacky biker fetish D-bag."
"A tacky biker fetish D-bag with amazing style."
"But what you need is body armor. I have a light weight armor that won't add weight or bulk to you but it can stop bullets flat from at least three feet away."
"So two feet is the limit for letting them get close? Wheres the fun in that?"
"If you're not going to take some precautions then there's no point in going out and kicking a$$ in the first place. The toys you use and the suit you wear are part of the fun."
"Look." I sigh and get to the point I've been wanting to get to for a while. "Why the hell do you even care? A nineteen year old girl has no reason to help me out with my life or death games. Especially not one who has all of this to live for."
"Maybe I'm just bored. With all this money I can do just about anything I want so it's hard to find something challenging."
"Bull. There's something else. I'm not gonna dig into your past, but if you're just using me for some revenge against the scum of the Earth plan you've been thinking up because of some scar in your past then count me out. Go ahead and tell the world Alex Carter is Red X. I can find another secret identity and another name." I pick up one of the special shuriken and spin it in between my fingers. "You seem perfectly healthy and your life looks like somebody's fairy tale. What's your angle in this?"
She swallows before turning to me and looking at me in the eyes. "I agree with you." She says.
"What?"
"I agree with you. You have your own rules and live by them. You protect people who need it and punish those who deserve it because you think it's fun and you're not hurting people who are innocent. It's the perfect outlet and the perfect thrill." She walks up and touches the zipper of my jacket. "Thrill me. Let's see what you can do to stop my boredom."
I sigh and take her hand off of my jacket, surprising her. "Liar." I walk further into her hall of weapons. "If you don't want to tell me then don't. Just don't pretend to be some slutty teenager looking for a bone jumping from some dangerous guy." Really hard to say, cause if she meant it, I'd be all over her.
She smiles up at me with a far more genuine smile than she's shown me before. It's actually kind of cute.
"Alright, Carter. Then from the girl who isn't pretending, I want you to try a new suit design. I've based it on some of the Batman suits at first but then I thought I could use Nightwing and that sort of took over. You're using this design but with some modifications to look like your old one. But I don't do hood's."
"Fine, but the cape stay's. May not be practical, but I like using it as a distraction and glider."
"Whatever."
Nobodies point of view:
A far away, in an unknown mansion in a secret location, a collaboration of sinister minds discuss the latest topic of crisis.
"Red X." One of the seven people gathered around the overly dressed table sips from a glass of red wine he rocks back and forth in his left hand. "Does anyone know who he is?"
"There have been several sightings throughout the past few months, but we believe that he may have been operating under a different alias before his recently."
"Does it matter?" One of them folds his hands under his chin. "Why don't we just kill the bastard and be done with it?"
"He's not your ordinary cop."
"I doubt he is a cop at all."
"Great. Now our town if full of fucking Batman copycats."
"He's obviously been trained. I'd say military."
"No military boy is that unpredictable. Has to be in the League of Assassins."
"Why would one of them be here?"
"Who gives a damn? We have assassins too."
"This shouldn't be our problem. Archer. He's in your territory. You deal with him. We will help you if you need it."
"I don't think I will." A man with dark, short hair and foggy blackened eyes gets up out of his chair. "He's just one guy. If he's anything special, my family will give me the strength necessary ."
Jason's point of view:
Shit! I'm still hung over, and it's time to go out on patrol. I throw on all my gear except for my helmut, and walk out the door. One of my neighbors bumps into me on my way out.
"Watch it asshole!" The bastard looks like a hippy with a little more than "small" coke habit.
"Piss off you skinny bitch!" I move on , and get to my bike outside. Hopefully this night'll be quit, and I can go back to sleep.
Alex's point of View:
"So, after he stole the girl you were looking to score and beat you,you stole his wallet and gave the money in his wallet to the restaurant for all the stuff you broke in the fight?" Charlotte asks me as she sucks on a popsicle.
"That's how it went. But it was a draw damn it! He didn't beat me. And I've gotten a lot better." I bit the end off of mine.
"So he beat you up, and you came running to me?" She teases.
"No! That was a year ago. I actually just ended up running into you and I spent my last spendable cent on take out. I needed some comfort food."
"Didn't you tell me earlier that you have some big money supply?"
"Yeah, but if I hock that stuff all at once I'll get caught by the police. I really don't want to leave some big paper trail. Secret identities are hard work."
"I could lend you some cash."
"In exchange for what?"
"Originally I thought you would be living in that apartment, but you turned that down. My school is having a party I wasn't planning on going to. If I show up with an older guy I'll definitely gain some popularity."
"Except that freshman in college are like High school kids. And I hate high school kids. I graduated when I was fifteen just to get away from them."
"I guess not. You don't seem like you'd be fun at a party anyway. So, how about moving in?"
"There is no way I'll…"
Have you ever seen an apartment go up in flames? No? Neither have I. But I have seen the aftermath. My house was gone. Dead gone. and with it goes my independence from this girl.
"So, how about that apartment offer?"
It's amazing how in the same day I get woken up by little miss pubescent and I forgot my oven was on. Luckily I keep all of my more secret items locked away in a very secure little safe. My suit and a lot of my cash is absolutely safe. The issue in front of me now is…
"So, where do I sleep?" I ask April, who has this big grin on as she helps me move what few possessions I have into the new apartment.
"You can have any room you want except the one to the left, closes to the window. That one's mine."
I look at her like she's an idiot. "You're sleeping here?"
"Don't get the wrong idea." She tells me. "It's just in case I end up working a few late nights. This is close to my school and it would be easier to help you out if I had constant access to you. I'm not expecting anything physical."
"And you think with an arrangement like this that would still be your choice? Nice logic easy target."
"Oh, where you thinking of doing something to me? The locks in this house are all state of the art and you have no clearance access to my room. So you can keep your fantasies in your own pants."
"My fantasies tend to involve girls with much better bodies than yours. Especially in the chest."
"I'll have you know I'm a 38C cup."
"I'll have you know, I don't care."
"You should be a little nicer to the woman who's putting you up. Oh, yeah. Your new suit is finished."
"Let's see it."
No one's point of view:
Archer steps off the plain, and is met by a young man with cropped dark hair. He bares a youthful appearance[couldn't be more than 20] with an average build and a clean shaven face.
"Tiberius, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to visit little brother." They embrace, and then step into the waiting limo.
"I just wish that you could be visiting under better circumstances brother. I'm sorry that my men haven't been able to handle this themselves." Archer looks out the window, looking almost uninterested.
"It's fine. My men have been needing to get some exercise. I've already ordered the Jackal to search the city for this Red X, and anyone else who could get in our way."
Tiberius looks at Archer, concern lacing his face. "Archer, the man is a wild animal! Surely-"
"If you could have handled this on your own, I wouldn't have been sent here. So unless you won't this visit to become unpleasant, DROP IT!"
Tiberius holds his tongue.
Jason's point of view:
Ok, so far I've stopped a bank robbery, killed some rapists, and saved a child from a pedophile. My head is killing me, and I've decided work is fucking done for the night.
At least that's what I was gonna do, then suddenly I hear a scream.
"Aw… fuck!" I rush towards the direction of the scream. I find a women being man handled by a dude wearing a brown hoodie and light brown cargo pants. I land in the alley and pull out my knife.[ I forgot to pack extra ammo. Fucking hang overs...]
The man turns around, and point's his gun straight at my helmet.
The man removes his hood, and reveal's dark carmel skin, long black hair and Asian features.
"Red Hood? Not the man I was expecting, but more than acceptable." He turns to the woman. "Get out of here, you served your purpose." The woman run's outta the alley in the blink of an eye.
The man immediately lowers his gun. "I don't really like these thing's. No rush, just tap the trigger and it's over. Like ordering take out." He removes his hoodie, revealing a dark gray t-shirt.
He gets into a fighting stance. "But this? This is what I live for."
I put up my knife, and also get into stance. "So before I put you in the ground, what's your name?"
He smirks. "They call me the Jackal." He then rushes at me.
Alex's point of view:
I have to admit that the pipsqueak knows her stuff. I can barely feel the costume on me. There is almost no extra weight added onto it. The new helmet design for my head is awesome. The skull isn't a halloween mask anymore but a design crafter right into the helmet and she even had the X on my chest engraved into the armour. I can make it glow too. I can't wait to take it apart and rewire it. The cape is made of an almost unbreakable fabric steel fusion which can withstand bullets. The night vision and inferred make running across the city's rooftops a lot like a video game. There's only one thing I'm not happy about.
"How's it handling?" That thing would be the intercom inside the helmet. I really don't like having that chick in my head.
"It's handing fine. I'm gonna test drive some stuff. Talk to you in about an hour.
….
So there I was, hanging outside the window of this college sorority change room. I mean…saving a tree from a cat… Damn it! Anyway, I heard this awful noise. It was apparently a flash bomb. Before the light hits my face I shield myself with my cape and close my eyes, keeping my ears open for the son of a bitch who's ass I'm going to kick all the way to Star City.
I suddenly feel legs around my neck as I am flung backwards. "Hi X. We're Deedee and Deedee. The Court wants us to kill you. But make it fun, ok?"
The two girls behind me[twins by the judging] look like gogo dancers at some cheap tata bar. Honestly, I dig the whole twin thing but shit, these girls got some skill to sneak up on me.
"Looks like he's scared DeeDee." One of the twins smirks at me while the other puts a finger to her lip.
"Maybe we should play a little nicer DeeDee."
"That alright ladies." I give them the thumbs up. "I like a girl who plays rough."
"Then you'll love us." One of them jumps up over the other's shoulders and comes in for a kick but I block it and wrap her head up in my cape.
"Hey!" She squirms but I've pretty much got her.
"This is all The Court can handle?" I ask grabbing her by the bulge in her shirt. "I mean, look at this. This can't even fill an A cup."
"I'm a C, you bastard!" She kicks up at me and I let her go, only to be flung into Deedee[the other one] as he tries to attack me from behind.
"I don't think so. I could barely anything on that surfboard." The other DeeDee is coming up from the right but I grab her by the arm and fling her into a wall. "Look. I'm a growing neutral chaotic vigilante. I need my villains sweater puppies or it will stunt my growth. Think of the fan service."
I sigh dramatically. "I guess those mosquito bite's can go over well with some audiences, and big bizangas do only go over with a certain level of fan bases. Maybe you could tray being a maid or waitress in your spare time."
"This guy is really getting on my nerves DeeDee." One of the twins gets up.
"Lets rip his balls off DeeDee." They pulls a gun from their pockets and start to fire.
I dance between the bullets making more and more crude and unsavory comments. If there's one thing I'm good at its groping women who want to kill me, or will want to kill me because I groped them. What was I taking about? Oh yes.
Eventually one of them decides to toss a grenade at me for some bloody reason and I get seared by the explosion. A piece of shrapnel gets my leg and I have to use my grapple to escape. I hide in a bush, my chest moving up and down with each breath.[Not to self, tell April the armor on the leg needs work.] This is just the thrill I've been waiting for. I pull out my gun and get ready in case one of those Ho's come after me.
I decide it's time to end this before April starts yapping in my ear, so I sneak up behind them using my invisibility mode and slam their heads together as hard as I can without brain damaging them. I drop them off near the police station.
I get ready to leave when I hear a moan come from an alley. I decide to check it out, and you couldn't believe my surprise.
The Red Hood, Jason Freakin' Todd, bleeding, broken, and barely conscious.
"Shit, Hood? You still alive?" He moan's in response.
"What happened to you man? You look like shit."
He smirks. "You should see the other guy. He said he worked for… the Court. Called himself "The Jackal". What an.. ass…hole" he loses consciousness.
Damn it. I get him to the apartment, and April hook's him up to some experimental do hickey that looks like that healing chamber from Dragon Ball Z.
"So, you gonna tell me who that is?" April looks like she's not gonna be satisfied until I answer her.
"He's Jason Todd. And I guess he's going to be your knew tenant, for now anyway."
So.. ch 2 everybody! Pleae R&R! And if you were wondering, The Jackal is based of mad dog on The Raid: Redemption.