The apartment held no furniture and little more than near dead kitchen appliances and a washer and dyer set. But it would be perfect as soon as Rains former furniture showed up (he had paid good money to send it out here as soon as he had found a place). One week in Jump City and he had an apartment, a new school to go to in the fall…no friends, a depleted supply of money, and almost no xinothium stores in the Red X suit.
Rains would never admit it but he felt he had royally screwed himself. Choosing to move around as fast he did made him lose some reasoning and resources but a quick steal and Rains planned to have the suit filled to the brim with its volatile fuel source. Yet his stomach had its own agenda. He decided to think more after lunch.
Walking to a fairly good pizza place (if his old teacher was to be trusted) Rains eyed all the women he passed. He had felt the need of companionship as of late. And some of these girls felt the same by the way they dressed. One specimen, talking on a cell phone, caught his eye especially when he moved close enough to tell she was having an argument with her husband if the ring on her finger indicated anything. It was quite heated and Rains was about to lay some of his "I'm a poor orphan" moves on her (all older women with hubby problems can't resist the poor orphan bit nor the offer of revenge nookie) when he realized the pizza place was just up the street and his stomach had more urgent needs than his groin.
Rains entered the place and walked to the top and open level of the structure and noticed a poster board that read "THE TEEN TITAN'S ALL TIME FAVORITE". He gave a small sigh as he sat himself at the round table at the furthermost tip of the restaurant that was a triangle and obviously was meant to look like a pizza slice.
"What would you like sir?" A serving girl asked in the bored voice most teenaged workers have.
"A Dr. Pepper, three slices of pepperoni pizza, and your number," Not a bit of the sentence had real emphasis in it or emotion but idle command. The girl started walking back to the counter that his order would be given when she stopped gave him a once over and handed him a piece of paper that she had scribbled on.
Meet me here in ten minutes and I'll show you a great time.
-Christie P.S. we'll talk about numbers later.
Rains smiled as he read the note because it wasn't often he got to take care of his wants and needs in such a timely manner. He began to sink back into his view of the city's busy streets when he heard.
"Dude! How'd you get that ice queens number!" Shouted by an ecstatic boy with green skin.
"Are you sick your…green," Rains sounded concerned but…he wasn't.
"Wha…? No I'm not sick! You're in my seat. How'd you get that girls number? And I'm Beast Boy!" Beast Boy had an almost scarily quick amount of topical change in his sentence and Rains would have said so if someone else hadn't beaten him to it.
"BB leave the guy alone," A tall black teen moved up to the short green one. The black guy had metal all over his…no was his body.
"But Cy this guy says I look sick and got that one waitresses number!" The green Beast Boy waved his arms wildly to get his point across.
"I received an assurance of casual sex with a stranger, not a number kid," Rains wanted to brag and see the green Beast Boy shut up. A moment of silence then.
"What? You can't be serious! I mean she doesn't even talk to me and you get sex?! I'm a superhero!" Beast Boy seemed ready to strike Rains so he shifted in his chair to the best spot to break any attack and break Beast Boy if need be.
"Well a lot of girls are drawn to bad guys like me. Or she has taste and can't deny my…hoodlyness," Rains had thought of that word and a dozen others to fit this kind of situation.
"Your wha…?" He was cut off as a black cloud like thing covered his mouth and pulled him back.
"You have to excuse our friend he gets a little…augmentative when he's hungry," Robin the Boy Blunder stood in front of Rains and sheepishly apologized.
"No problem. But thanks I didn't want to hurt him," Rains wasn't lying because hurting a hero was a bad move in a city like this.
"I don't think you could beat Beast Boy," The Boy Blunder let out a laugh as if the whole idea was funny. It wasn't.
"I could beat him and you, even though I am devoid of all those powers and gadgets you have," Rains didn't try to conceal his malice at his brand new enemies.
"No you couldn't," Robin had gotten this determined slant in his hidden eyes and Rains knew he was in a verbal battle and was about to reply when he heard.
"Do we have to fight civilians as well, Robin?" Rains stood pulled his chair out and said in quick reply to the black-purple haired super girl, Raven.
"You won't have to my dear lady. Duty calls but if we could arrange a get together in the near future we could get to know one and other very well," He gave a small bow, a suggestive smile, and a decadent wink to the dark sorceress before leaving to claim his waitress distraction.
Walking down the stairs he met the girl bringing his food and pulled her along with him. They sat at a small table and they both ate food Rains would pay for and shared the large drink she had brought. After they went outside and into the first dark alley Rains could find and he took her there against the wall. He got her number.
1
A quick walk had Rains in his apartment and showing as he wondered how he'd pull off the theft he was attempting to plan with a near dead suit and no real ideas. Rains decided he should try that night. Stepping out of the shower he made his way to his suitcase that held his clothes. Pulling out a pair of old blue jeans, grey short sleeved shirt. Putting them aside he put on a pair of black boxers and then the Red X suit (just the body piece) and pulled his clothes on over it. He put the suits other parts in his backpack. He grabbed his favorite denim jacket on the way out.
He set out for this nightclub he had heard good things about. Once there he moved to a small table in the large clubs darkest corner. He noticed a girl and guy sitting at a table near his the second he looked away and turned back the girl was gone. And then he noticed her ponytail spread on the table and a…bobbing in the guy's lap. He put his Red X gloves on after that. He waited and watched as a large crowd of girls danced in a manner that would have a local nun on full alert. He even saw a couple start grinding and groping and undressing on the dance floor. It was all entertaining yet Rains still waited at the table in the corner his back to the wall only getting up to get a drink (a coke because he doubted any thief would drink before a job).
He had no reason to be at the new nightclub other than to slate his boredom by watching fools dance and vie for sexual release. Then he saw a girl. She had hair of deep red, eyes that, quite literally, glowed a green, and skin that had an odd tan, almost an orange. He stood walked the short distance to her.
He walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and started to whisper sweet nothings in her ear. She could not see nor hear him and since the lights in the club changed colors often she could not tell his gloves were not someone else's. He maneuvered her towards the edge of the crowd. Once there he moved his mouth to hers in a chaste kiss but Rains was hungry allover again and pushed a bit to fast onto her mouth and his hands started to roam. He heard a shout from a familiar voice and then he recognized her. Starfire from the Teen Titans. She noticed that he was not who she must have thought him to be for she screamed.
He felt like he was flying. And then Rains reminded himself that of course he felt that way he had just been punched by an extraordinarily strong alien for kissing and touching her. He barely got away with a cracked rib from where he fell. Rains slipped out of the nightclub into an ally and decided to get the xinothium…it was safer.
2
The Red X lurked around the security at the WAYNE Enterprises building with the perfect ease of a professional assassin. Nothing should have been as easy as it was for Red X especially when this should have been a top security kind of place not the rent-a-cops and laser sensors kind. Or maybe it was just nerves after all the current Red X had no power in the suit and no experience in thievery like the kind the previous incarnates dealt in.
A quick leap and Red X was at the vault door that led to all the xinothium he would ever need. Opening it was easy as well, just a swipe with a card he had found and a press on the right numbers (the executive who visited the labs behind these doors had it written down) on the keypad and gave a small yank to the vault handle and leapt inside.
The Red X crept along the wall towards the storage cabinets that held the coveted xinothium. Never giving a thought about being caught. There was in the room's middle a floating tube of the precious material. He pulled it down and placed it at the center of his belt and the xinothium flowed into it and washed life into the Red X suit. He then filled the tube with cherry Kool-Aid and replaced it in its suspended state. He walked to the walls and gave an experimental tug to one of the miniature vaults lining the steel walls. A puff of cold and white air announced the opening of the small vault. In the center was a large yellow container with a biohazard sign on it.
Red X pressed a button on the container and it exposed the carefully stored xinothium. Closing the container and vault Red X began the trek to the outside of the building when he heard.
"TITANS GO!" Come from the Boy Blunder Robin.
Red X smiled as the Teen Titans closed in on him. They fell into position around him and Red X decided that they had this all planned out.
"All this attention for me? If I had known I would have brought a gift," The surprised look on Robin's face was reward enough for changing the voice modifier that still sounded somehow mechanical but different more like a ghost.
"What are you doing here X," Robin said a sneer on his face to match the smile on Red X's hidden one.
"Nothing but taking a little stroll through a concrete jungle," Red X shot back.
"You're not going to get out with the xinothium X!" Robin shouted as he lunged at Red X who dodged and threw a kick at the Teen Titans leader's back.
Red X managed to keep Robin off of him when he attacked while tossing an amount of X-shuriken at his friends all the while bouncing to the rhythm of the song playing in his headset. Red X jumped over a blue colored attack from Cyborg's right arm, kicked Robin in the face, and twirled in mid-air to toss another X-shuriken at Raven one that expanded to cover her face and stop her from speaking the incantations for her spells.
"You guys don't like me do you?" Red X asked after taking a star bolt to the chest.
Red X used almost none of the xinothium stores except the little bit that controlled the heating/cooling system of his suit. Yet he was winning. First he would hit Robin then throw an X-shuriken at someone and hit whoever was closest before going at Robin again. Soon he grew bored with the fighting not to mention that Robin was regaining his composer and taking more time with his moves which meant Red X had less time to take on the others which in turn left the Titans with more time to attack him which all meant that Red X needed to get out because any fighter can tell you timing is one of the most fundamental elements in the game.
"I have to go now kiddies but don't worry good ol' X 'ill be back sometime soon," Red X said before pressing his belt and transporting to a different part of the building so he could make his escape.
He had to run and duck and at one point run through a stretch of sewer to get away from the superheroes. When he arrived at the small ally behind the nightclub he pulled his clothes back on and went on his way to his apartment where he would hole up for a few days.
"But first," He murmured, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket baring the series of numbers that would bring a waitress over to his residency, "A bit of…fun," He laughed considering that he might make national news at his successful theft.
---
More of the story, less of the gold.