Red X: The Series
Episode 2: X Part 2
Disclaimer: Red X and the Teen Titans are property of DC. I do not own anything.
Red X: Episode 2
Nobody really knew for sure why the town council had pushed for one to be built in the first place, it wasn't as if anyone needed or asked for a museum in Jump.
But the Jump City Museum stood tall and proud, its doors open for anyone who wanted to see dinosaur skeletons and old Egyptian relics.
That is to say, nobody.
When citizens of Jump look at the museum, all they see is a stack of wasted tax dollars, good only for occasional school field trips and suckering the occasional tourist. People had other things in Jump City to waste their time and money on. Even now, the museum was as quiet as a mouse, the silence only broken by the snores of the unlucky security guard on duty that day.
*click*
…and the sound of a super-thief raiding the storeroom
Again.
As unpopular as it was, the Jump City museum did get quite a few rare artifacts from other museums in the country, too bad most of them ended up sitting in storage for months before anyone unpacked them.
To Red X, there were two kinds of thieving jobs: Jobs he took for the thrill and Jobs he took for the money. The latter of which were easier and payed enough to support his civilian life.
So it was a routine job really: He'd break in, swipe some of the stuff that was collecting dust in the storeroom and be on his merry way. Secure in the knowledge that his pockets would be well lined the next time he went shopping.
Carefully closing up the cases he had ransacked, Red X started for the door.
The sound of footsteps stopped him dead in his tracks.
'Looks like someone's coming in to do a little inventory check.' Red X smirked, reaching for his belt, 'No matter, just a push on the belt and…'
To his surprise, Red X remained exactly where he was. Frantically pressing the button, his face paled as he heard a soft click and the sound of the doorknob turning.
'Uh oh…'
XXX
Professor Gregory Moore calmly walked into the storeroom. Contrary to most of the Museum Staff, Gregory loved working here. It was nice and quiet, different from the crowded and noisy environment present in more well-known museums.
A rather exciting day was coming up in the museum's not-so-distant future: They had gotten ahold of an authentic Egyptian Mummy, kindly donated from a rich businessman.
Walking over to a nearby crate, he carefully moved the lid aside to reveal the sarcophagus of King Khufu IV.
This would be the last day he would be seeing the sarcophagus like this, sitting alone in a box of straw, unseen by the public for so long.
With a small smile, he replaced the lid and walked out of the room, he had a long day ahead of him in the morning.
A few minutes later all was quiet once again, the silence only broken when a loud crash resounded through the room as the Sarcophagus' lid fell to the floor atop the crate's own, sending straw flying in all directions.
A thin black figure stepped out of the coffin, dusting the thousand year-old dust from his form.
'Thanks pal,' Red X patted King Khufu on the chest, 'Um…sorry about the mess.'
XXX
Good Evening, and welcome to Jump City News
Today's top story, no further leads on the sudden string of robberies that have been going on for the past several days. Police have determined that the perpetrator strikes under the cover of darkness, and targets range from tightly guarded private collections to highly secured tech labs.
But it appears this heinous criminal's days are numbered as our city's local superheroes have vowed to bring him to justice…
Red X turned off the TV, a stern frown etched across his face. While he was enjoying the media attention along with the astronomical payoffs for the things he had stolen, the titans were indeed coming closer and closer to catching him in the act. So far he had managed to avoid detection, but he couldn't run forever, especially since he had a problem.
He was running low on Xenothium.
The last few nights had been a series of close calls, with the suit's teleportation mechanism frequently malfunctioning and either sending him to the wrong location or failing to work at all. Most of the time it worked fine, but 'most of the time' was not often enough for Red X, and that incident tonight proved it. He needed to find more Xenothium, fast.
There was definitely a supplier somewhere in the city, or at least a stockpile of it locked away in a vault. After all, there was still some Xenothium in the suit when he 'acquired' it. However, Red X highly doubted that Robin would tell him where he got the stuff if he asked nicely. He needed a Xenothium Detector, and there was only one company that he knew of that made Xenothium Detectors.
Wayne Industries
XXX
Luckily enough for Red X, Wayne Industries had a storage warehouse in Jump City, of course, it was a high security warehouse that was only accessible through an underground tunnel system and was protected by state-of-the-art locks and laser defenses.
But that suited Red X just fine.
Perched on top of a rooftop, Red X watched as the security guards paced left and right at the front gate of the Wayne-Tech building. Carefully aiming his palm at the top of the building, he launched his grappling hook at the roof. Tugging on it slightly to check if it was secured, Red X swung his way over to the side of the building, the two guards none the wiser. Seeing that he hadn't been spotted, Red X began silently making his way up the building.
One would think that a building that guarded the entrance to such valuable pieces of equipment would have had more alarms or security. But there was no sense in wasting money securing the building if the warehouses where already so heavily protected.
Of course, Wayne Industries had never faced the likes of Red X before…at least not in this city anyway.
Upon reaching the top of the building, Red X flipped onto the roof and calmly made his way to the stairway…
XXX
Dana sighed as she finished keying in the quantity of the last item for the inventory check. It had taken her a whole week to finish it, but the bonus would be worth it. All she needed to do now was to get it to the boss's office the next morning.
Turning off the computer, she picked up her coat and started for the door, eager to return home and take a well deserved bubblebath.
Dana shuddered as she walked down the hall, the place sure seemed much more frightening in the dark, she had asked management to keep the lights on for longer, but of course, her request had been denied. 'No reason to have the lights on for just one person' they had replied.
It was true that she was a workaholic, but it was not without good reason, she was really the only person in her family with a steady income, her brothers were still in school, her father's books hadn't been selling well and her mother…
The sound of footsteps made her jump, turning around, she could have sworn that she had caught a glimpse of somebody disappearing down the hall way. Who on earth could it be at this hour? Dana wondered, as far as she knew, she was the only person who ever worked this late. Against her better judgment, Dana quietly made her way back toward her office, wondering if it was just her imagination.
Hugging the wall she heard clicking noises and a door being opened, she carefully peered into the hall leading toward the records department, where the hardcopies of most of the company's documents were stored.
As quietly as she could, Dana crept over and peeked into the gap in the doorway.
Someone dressed in all black was rummaging through the files, he was a looked rather short and couldn't be a day older than 16. A torn and tattered cape was draped around him, and was wearing a mask with a white skull on it. Finally finding what he was looking for, the masked figure started flipping through the file, as she leaned in to see what he was looking at, she gave a small squeak as the door let out a loud creak.
Slowly, the figure's head swiveled around to face her, his eyes showing cold indifference upon his bright white mask. There was an awkward silence in the room, and then in a hollow, digitized voice the figure spoke:
'Long day at the office?'
The woman screamed as Red X dropped the file and shoved her aside, dashing through the doorway and sprinting down the hall.
Dana lay on the ground stunned for a moment, before quickly whipping out her cell phone and dialing 911.
XXX
Red X slashed at the electronic door lock that led to the underground passage, he knew full well that the city's protectors would be hot on his heels soon after, how could he have been so careless?
And what kind of nutjob stays in the office until this time of night?
He didn't want to face the Titans now, though he was confident he could take them on with the amount of power he had now, he had no idea what kind of security they would have at the Xenothium vault. He had to save energy, at least until he got the detector.
Blasting open the doors to the elevator, the master thief leaped into the empty shaft and fired his grappling hook, his only chance was to get to the warehouse, find the detector and get out before the titans caught up to him. The sound of the elevator's turning gears signaled that he didn't have much time.
Dashing down the corridor he found himself face to face with a laser grid, forcing himself to calm down, he carefully placed his laser deflector on the ground, sprinting through the gap in the laser defense system. Even as he heard the sound of crunching metal he continued on, smashing in the keypad for the next door. Running into the next room he found himself standing in the warehouse in the midst of mountains of boxes, with no exit in sight. He swore, realizing that a fight was now inevitable.
Red X heard a sharp gasp behind him, turning around, he came face to face with Teen Titans.
End of the line.
XXX
Red X materialized in the shadows of the alleyway beneath where he leapt off the building. The faint sound of the Titans arguing above was like music to his ears. The looks on their faces when they saw him were absolutely priceless. Almost worth the trouble he went through trying to get away from those meddling punks.
He hadn't felt a rush like that in a while, dodging energy blasts, kicking Robin's ass, flirting… It wasn't half bad for his first battle as Red X. The fact that he had chosen the same name that his predecessor had chosen was no surprise, it was only natural that they were somewhat alike. Robin was every bit as skilled as he was and maybe more, but there was one thing he had that Robin didn't.
A high tech battlesuit
That and rugged good looks, he thought as he turned on the Xenothium detector. Adjusting it to ignore his belt, Red X quickly picked up a signal. Still pumped from his encounter, Red X dashed off.
XXX
The Jump City Skyline was truly a sight to behold, especially at night
Red X stood atop a skyscraper on the other side of the city, his cape billowing in the wind as he eyed his target.
Below him was a fairly large golden building, the headquarters of som firm that Red X couldn't be bothered to remember. There didn't seem to be much security around either, which probably meant that the building had a far more sophisticated security system. Thankfully the Xenothium detector would spare him a repeat of what happened when he broke into Wayne-Tech, he just had to follow the signal….
Familiar voices coming from an adjacent rooftop reminded him that he had something new to worry about…
He could just leave them alone, slink away into the darkness, make his way down and take the Xenothium…
But where was the fun in that?
'…You are no longer the one inside the suit.' He heard the alien say to Robin
Couldn't have asked for a better setup line.
'And personally…' Red X spoke, striking a pose, 'I think it looks much cooler on me.' Pulling out his shuriken, he leapt off the roof toward the startled titans…
XXX
'That was fun,' Red X thought, softly chuckling to himself as he casually sauntered over to the doors of the lab and pushed them open.
He had relaxed a little bit for the last fight, probably because he had taken out the other three so that he could focus on humiliating Robin. Snapping his mask was certainly one of the most satisfying things that he had done since he got the suit.
The cloaked black figure silently walked through dull halls of the underground complex, a gun-shaped scanner in his hand. As he followed the trail to the Xenothium Red X thought back to the conversation he had sat in on back on the roof, Robin seemed to be taking his theft rather hard, brooding about it being all his fault. He was right about that, after all, he was the one who upped and left, leaving his position open for some poor unfortunate soul to fill in his shoes, he had Robin to thank for what he was today…
XXX
Living off the livelihoods of other people may have been 'wrong', but life as a pickpocket was nothing compared to this.
Everyday it seemed like he was either training or studying, he hardly had any time to himself now that he was living with his mentor. The process was always the same: Wake up, read books, spar, go out for patrol, sleep. It was particularly bad when there was nothing going on during patrol, because then, he didn't have anyone to take out his frustrations on.
And all the while his boss was never satisfied; His new protégé was never smart enough, skilled enough or strong enough for him, always talking about how great his last 'son' was…
XXX
Red X soon arrived at a large vault door, a small control panel a little ways in front of it. Guess he had finally found what he was looking for. Walking over to the control panel, Red X was about to start hacking into the door controls when he heard footsteps coming from down the hall. Red X quickly switched his belt's controls to stealth mode, and disappeared into the shadows.
It was Robin, all alone, he walked past where Red X was hiding and stopped at the vault door, as if wondering if he had found the Xenothium. Suddenly, a terrified scream echoed through the hall.
'Starfire?'
Robin turned around and started back toward the panel, Red X took this chance to appear behind him. Reminiscing had stirred up rage that he hadn't felt since the days he spent under his former boss, he wasn't going to let Robin walk away this time…
'What's the matter kid?' Red X said coldly, pulling out a handful of shuriken 'Don't you want to play? After all, they're your toys.'
Robin swiftly ducked the oncoming projectiles, which hit the control console, blowing it into scrap metal. The gears in the vault door began to turn, opening to reveal hundreds of laser trip wires, Red X flipped backwards into the room, with his foe not far behind…
XXX
Well, he was right about the security.
Laser trip wires, forcefields a freaking proton cannon? He certainly had to give them credit for designing the most screwed up vault in the universe…
Of course, he didn't have much problem maneuvering through the security. As did Robin, but that was to be expected. As he walked away towards the final vault door, he felt a pang of guilt inside him, maybe leaving Robin to get vaporized was too harsh…
The old Robin wouldn't have fallen into that trap…
All trace of guilt vanished as Red X began to pick the vault door.
XXX
'I'll be back to take you the jail.' And with that, Robin left Red X alone in the room.
Red X eyed the control panel in front of him. As soon as he was sure Robin was far enough away, he carefully aimed his hand at the console and fired. He brought up his cape to shield himself from the resulting explosion, and heard the bars slowly retract. Stepping out of the light, he pondered his next move.
His day just seemed to be getting better and better, first he got caught be an office worker, then the titans came after him and now some crazed madman had just stolen all of his Xenothium.
Well, it wasn't exactly his…
His fight with Robin this time had been more intense, heck he even threatened to blow the both of them up. Of course, Robin saw through his bluff… Just like daddy trained him.
There was definitely a lot of the old man in him, interrogating him mid-battle, going on about the whole situation like it was black and white; Robin took things way too seriously…
But Robin's words had struck a chord within the thief, even if he didn't show it. He had tried being the good guy once, and all that got him was broken bones and no respect. So what if the some lunatic had gotten his hands on a doomsday weapon, it wasn't his problem, he had the money, he could just skip town.
He didn't care.
XXX
He looked out of the window from his room, at the tall, dark spires of his hometown, somewhere out there, a madman was trying to sell off a bomb to the highest bidder.
His mentor had told him to stay inside, that he wouldn't be able to make rational decisions, especially considering who was involved…
He had been saying that a lot lately, though it was a different excuse every time. Ever since that time when a perpetrator fell off a roof during a chase. He was probably wasting time talking to the commissioner right now, when he could be tracking down the bomb.
In a flash the boy made up his mind, quietly creeping out of his room. He wasn't going to sit idly by while some maniac threatened his city…
XXX
Red X silently popped out the belt's Xenothium vial, he still had enough left for one last fight. Stowing it away, he sprinted toward the exit.
XXX
In a dark alleyway in the slums of Jump City, the sound of metal sliding across pavement broke through the silence of the night. From within an open manhole the ebony form of super-thief Red X emerged, covered head to toe in sewage, and extremely pissed off. He was lucky that the grappling hook wasn't Xenothium powered or he'd have been an X-shaped splatter amongst the rocks at the bottom of the cliff.
After saving the entire city as well as the Titans from being vaporized, all he got out of it were a few tubes of Xenothium that he had picked up during the commotion, all useless now that his belt had been taken away. He should have just disappeared once the cannon started slicing the lab in half; but no, he just had to stick around and taunt Robin didn't he… The thief got to his feet and started for home, pondering his next move as he leapt up onto the fire escape on the adjacent building.
X still couldn't figure out how Robin had snatched the belt from literally under his nose, but that wasn't important. Robin had probably hidden the belt away in another safe in the tower, without the belt, Red X was just an ordinary thief again.
He caught sight of the damaged Titans Tower when he reached the top of the apartment. 'At least I'm not the only one who got screwed over,' he though giving a small chuckle at the giant hole in the roof, 'It'll take them forever to get that hole fixed…'
A sudden realization hit him as he stared at the Titans Tower, and a manic grin spread over the thief's unseen face.
XXX
As the sun set the following day, Robin knelt down atop the tower, pondering the events that had transpired. Dr. Chang had been arrested, most of the Xenothium had been recovered and the city was kind enough to pay to repair the damages done to their home, but it seemed like a bittersweet victory, because there was still no sign of Red X.
He wondered if he had made a mistake in not getting the suit destroyed: It would have been difficult, but not completely impossible. The world would have been short one supervillain, but also short of one city. He couldn't deny that he probably wouldn't have stopped Chang if it wasn't for X.
In the end, somehow things had all worked out for the better. Red X had helped them stop a bad guy this one time, and now the source of his power was back in the hands of the one who created him.
With the belt now safely locked away, he knew that Red X was now nothing more than a common criminal, but he had a strange, unsettling feeling that he hadn't seen the last of him…
The sound of someone yelling in pain shocked Robin out of his thoughts, looking down at the construction site he saw a pizza delivery boy hopping around in pain. He was carrying a stack of pizzas in his hands, and had the brightest red hair Robin had ever seen.
'Oh, sorry to disturb you Mr. Robin, sir,' the boy laughed sheepishly, 'I was just delivering these pizzas to the workers and I sorta stubbed my toe…'
Robin smiled back and gave a thumbs up, signaling the boy to be on his way. The boy nodded furiously and ran off deeper into the construction site, disappearing from view.
Robin went turned back towards the sea once again, that unsettling feeling still lingering in his…
Wait a minute.
The construction workers called it a day hours ago…
His eyes widening in horror, Robin leapt down into the tower and sprinted towards the Red X vault, cursing himself for not realizing it sooner. Dialing in the combination, he flung the safe open.
The belt sat atop its counter, unmoved, and untouched. Right where he left it.
'It's still here.' Robin sighed with relief…
'Heads up.' Came a hollow voice from behind him, Robin turned around only to have a pizza smashed into his face, sending him down onto the floor. Getting up and rubbing the cheese and pepperoni from his eyes, he saw the pizza delivery boy standing at the vault, clipping the belt onto his waist.
'Same room again kid?' chuckled the boy, 'You really are predictable.'
Before Robin could reply, there were several loud bangs and the room filled up with smoke. When it finally cleared, the thief was gone.
Red X had struck again.
***END***
A/N:
Hey everyone, its been awhile hasn't it? Heh heh…
I would make some excuse about my computer getting fragged by a virus, or that my house was burnt down but I won't. The truth is my interest in Teen Titans has waned, that coupled with the difficulty I had in writing this chapter made this whole thing start seeming more and more like a chore.
In my opinion, this chapter is of significantly lower quality than the previous one. Mostly because it is a rewrite of the 'X' episode, and thus relies on you having seen it in order to understand what is going on. It isn't as reader-friendly as the previous chapter and I apologize, I simply couldn't work in novelized versions of the scenes without it seeming awkward and out of place.
I might rewrite it someday, but probably only when my interest in the Titans picks up again (when they finally get the second movie out probably). Until then, this will be the end of 'The series' for now, consider this an unaired pilot of sorts, sitting in the back of a studio storeroom waiting for someone to develop it. I still have many ideas for this series, but for now, they are going to have to wait.
I hope you enjoyed what I did manage to get out, and I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone with the lack of updates.