Author's Note: Another post, another chapter. I hope you kids are enjoy this R & R


"There it is... Gotham City..."

Starfire watched as the distant spires slid into view, rising from the harbor around them like water spouts. As many of the cities the alien girl encountered on Earth, Gotham focused on rectangular-shape buildings reaching to the sky and a complex network of roads and bridges running around them. However, the dark-deco metropolis held a grittier look than Jump City. There was a certain tint to the brick and mortar that reminded her of grey smoke, or perhaps decay. As the T-Car crossed one of Gotham's main bridges to enter the downtown area, Starfire could sense an air of danger looming over the city. She would had only imagine feeling such a the darkness in the deepest reaches of Sector 666, but here it was, on Earth. Star would never have thought that Earth -the home of cotton formed candy and all things nice- could have such a place. Driving along the streets, the very underbelly of Gotham was naked for the Titans and her to see as a GCPD van was being packed with low-lifes. The young alien girl then heard Cyborg click the locks the doors on the car.

"This is where Robin was raised in his youth?" Starfire inquired aloud, rubbing her hands up her arms. She felt colder here than in the dead of space.

Gazing at Gotham with same unease as the rest of the Titans, BB retorted, "No wonder the guy moved out west!"

"My mother warned me about Gotham..." Raven related in her hushed voice. The others perked up to listen, as the moody Titan usually had little say, "...She said that the crime-rate's always high and the I.Q. level's always low..."

"That's a recipe for troubles of any kind." Cy said, quickly catching on to Raven's mother cryptic advice.

The T-Car finally pulled to a stop across from a particular tall building with an aged facade. Looking up to the height, Starfire could see the face and hands of clock built near to the top of the tower. The alien girl then caught sight of her boyfriend standing cross-armed at the entrance of the building and jumped out of the T-Car. "Robin!" She called with a giggle as she flew -quite literally- to the boy. A few pedestrians gawked in amazement as watch her float across the street like unhitched balloon and land beside Robin. Hugging him and small kiss on his lips, Starfire found him only reluctantly accept her affections and asked, "What is that is wrong, love Robin?"

"It's nothing..."

As the rest of the Titans reached the two, Beast Boy posed, "So, where's the Bat-Dude and Girl?"

"Probably inside, at the top.." Robin answered as he pointed a finger up, "...in Gotham Clock Tower. Batman and I discovered the Clock King inside there once, using the place as hideout."

"So, Batman turned it into a hideout of his own... ..." Asserted Raven as she surveyed the reaches of the Tower.

Entering the building, the Titans head right to the elevators and pressed the Up button. The doors pulled apart and they filed in, unintentionally spooking a couple of riders to one of the other lifts. As Starfire looked for the button marked 'Clock', her boyfriend said to simply hit the highest number there, instead. As elevator slowly climbed the height of the clock tower, moving from the 34th floor to the 35th floor and from the 35th floor to the 36th floor, a few of the Titans wondered why they hadn't just flew up themselves. It would have been much faster. Reaching the 109th floor, the Titans exited the lift and into a large room with tables, chairs, sit-down booths. A number of tables had white cloths over them and a few potted flowers with dried-out, brown leafs. Starfire and her friends move explored the room, but found nothing to suggest that Batman had set up shop here.

"Dude! I don't get it?" BB exclaimed, lifting up a tablecloth to see what secret laid underneath, "This is just a crummy, old restaurant. Where's the killer crime-fighting gear and detective junk? Where's the Batmobile?!"

"Why would the Batmobile be on the top floor of a building?" Cyborg retorted, "He could never use it all the way up here!"

"Dude...It has a jet engine."

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT CAN FLY!"

"PUT WINGS ON IT, IT COULD!"

As the two continued to argue, Robin went up to his girlfriend and stated, "Clock King's old hideout was in the clock, itself. There should be a way to get up in there..."

"But the building's courier contraption had not a button that would take us to the tower's clock."

Suddenly, the sound of a person clearing their throat rang across the room as though in a effort to grab the Titans attention. It had done so, though, and the five young souls twisted around to find a man exiting what seemed to be the restaurant's kitchen. "So it was you youngsters causing all the reckus down here." He related with a smile. Starfire studied the stranger, his dark skin and white hair, quaint brown suit and bow tie, she concluded that he wasn't a threat. He wasn't even that remarkable look, just a regular-Joe, with warm smile that welcomed her friends and her. He looked to Robin, saying, "Well, young man...it's been quite a time since I last saw you."

"Lucius Fox!" Robin walked right over to the man and happily shook his hand, "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Red X was giving Batman and Batgirl some unforeseen problems, so they asked me in to assist. I'm always happy to help Gotham's Knight and his friends."

"So you're Lucius Fox, CEO of Wayne Enterprises, right?" Cy asked as he too greeted Fox with hand-shake, "Why'd Batman call you in?"

"Mr. Wayne has had a long interest in the Batman" Fox glance to Robin and Starfire thought she saw her boyfriend smirk for a moment, "So, he's been greatly involved in funding the Dark Knight and alleging resources to him. It seems I was apart of the alleging, this time."

"So, Batman's using the Clock King's old hideout?" The former Boy Wonder inquired his old friend.

"Yes. Another one of Bruce Wayne allegings. He bought the clock tower and restaurant underneath after a fire destroyed the kitchen..." Fox pointed to doors he had just came from. The wallpaper above the doorway had been turned black by the flames trying to escape, "Mr. Wayne's kept the restaurant abandoned and Batman's turned the clock tower into a second base, outside of the Batcave. But now, why don't we go upstairs and get to business, huh?"

As Lucius Fox lead the Titans to second, secret elevator in the ruins of the kitchen, the alien girl wondered about the task set before them. Not only that of removing Red X's suit, but also Robin and the Batman working side by side one another. Their first meet had been so heated and tense, there was no telling where they could have gotten if Batgirl hadn't beseech Robin to come. She had said to Robin 'For me?' Star pondered to herself, As in, a favor to herself that love Robin would feel inclined to except..because she had asked Robin too? As thought raced through her mind, Starfire clutching onto her boyfriend's hand and entered the lift. Robin gave her a reassuring smile, however, the alien girl never saw it as she glared at the figment of Batgirl that her mind had created. The real task, Starfire realized, will be when Robin and Batgirl are working side by side one another... ...


Sionis looked down at his watch: 4:50 pm.

At five o'clock, the time-lock on Farmers National's vault could be opened by the Bank Manager combination. Sionis and his masked crew had been preparing for today for about a week now...and today was payday. The eight men loaded their reproduction Thompson sub-machine guns with hundred round drum magazines, chambering a round in each weapon. These yesteryear killers were Sionis' little touch of class to Gotham's style-less criminal underworld. Of course, the charred wooden face over Sionis' head was better clue as to who his crew and he were. Everybody in Gotham knew the sight of Black Mask.

"You know the drill, boys" Black Mask related to his men, "Get the tellers away from their desk and put everybody in the center of the room. Smoke whoever doesn't listen! Then empty the drawers and I'll get the Bank Manager."

The crew each made their sign of acknowledgement, shaking their heads or saying 'Yeah, Boss!' This wasn't Black Mask's first bank heist and nor would it be his last, however, the crimelord still felt some hesitation in his stomach. A unexpected GCPD patrol might roll by, or one of the security guards might try and play a hero. Either of those problems could be dealt with, given the time. However, Black Mask didn't want to stay a second longer than he had to. After they burst in, the police would be alerted and he'll have a dozen cop cars around the building in a short while. Then the Bat would follow. Black Mask had enough heists busted by the Bat to keep him on of the crimelord's minds, especially before a bank job. Of course, if the costume freak wants to come to their little party, then he'd have a .45 bullet just with the Batman's name on it... ...


As Fox and the Titans filed out of the secret elevator, Robin found that he and friends had entered behind Gotham Clock Tower's glass face. The large gears that ran the giant timepiece spun in a dazzling dance of mechanical magic. However, he and the others were more surprised to discover dozens of wood plank boxes filled the space between the clock gears and elevator. They created a maze of big and small rectangles for his team to traverse slowly through. The former Boy Wonder noticed as he went that most of the boxes were emptied of their contains, with only the packing materials left in them. The Wayne Enterprises' logo read across their planks, so Robin deduced that whatever was in them must have being brought in by Bruce. Half way through the maze, the Titans found an array of electronic equipment scattered along a large clearing in the boxes. Cyborg bent down to investigate them, but the Robin already knew it was all brand new and the latest model of WayneTech merchandise. It must of cost a small fortune to buying the equipment and then pay-off anyone who started asking questions about it. For ex-Boy Wonder, it only reaffirmed Bruce's lack of trust of his friends and him.

"Hey" Barbara said as she appeared from behind one of the boxes. Still deck out in her Batgirl costume, the sidekick hefted a heavy server over with the other equipment.

Cyborg surveyed the panorama of tech and asked aloud, "Are we really going to need all this to get that suit off of Red X? Don't get me wrong, I love the idea packing in all this high-price sweetness on somebody else's credit account...but it is a little much."

"Actually, this is all for permanent use in the clock tower." Repelled Batgirl as she place the server down and began hooking in wires to it. "We've been ignoring this place for too long, and I guess this gives me the excuse of little spiffing up."

The green-skin Titan picked up one of the electronics, totally oblivious of it's purpose, exclaiming, "A little spiffing! There's more techie stuff here than Cyborg has in the entire Titans Tower! It's almost embarrassing-OW!" The cybernetic Titan had quickly bashed on Beast Boy's head and gave his friend a look that spoke worlds of what he'd do to BB if he continued with his line of speech. Their shape-shifting friend paused for a moment, then went on, "..What I mean to say...It's, ah, pretty cool...I guess...?"

As Beast Boy continued to fumble over his words, Fox quietly tap the former Boy Wonder and directed him to a conjoining room. Leaving his friends behind, Robin was lead into a dimly lit area with a single, bright spotlight shining a circular pool of white light onto the floor. And there, at the center of the circle, laid the boy's foe...Red X. Restrained to a steel table, the rogue appeared unconscious as a device beamed a blue light onto his forehead. Beside the table sat Robin's ex-mentor, typing away on a computer console and reading from a pile of printed out papers. The boy remembered that Batman was an master of multitasking, even juggling two lives for years without anyone becoming the wiser. Robin stepped closer to the table, but the Dark Knight didn't turn, but continued his furiously working. As the boy moved his hand to touch the strange device beaming over Red X's head, Batman's sudden said. "It's a sonic-electron disruptor...used to upset the follow of neurons in the brain's synapses. It will keep him unconscious for as long as it on."

Fox walked over to the table and joined in, "We've tried keeping him under with basic anesthesia, but we couldn't get a needle into a vein. In fact, we can't penetrate the suit at all! Titanium tools brake, lasers burnout before getting close...Batman even tried using a diamond bladed saw, while I wasn't looking... ..."

Robin shot a glare at his former mentor, enraged by his reckless actions, but the Dark Knight merely turned slowly to the boy and retorted, "I knew what I was doing... I wouldn't have even cut through the Epidermis layer of his skin."

"But you obviously didn't know...or you'd would have gotten the suit off and I wouldn't be here."

Batman's expression told his old ward to watch his attitude, but Robin continued his glare. It was dangerous game to play with the Dark Knight -one which many had lost badly to him- but the former Boy Wonder was either brave enough or stupid enough to try. The two finally broke away when Cyborg called over to them, "You guys aren't going to find a way to get that suit off by having staring contests!" The ex-Dynamic Duo turned away from each other with a simultaneous grunt. The Titans and allies gathered around the metal table, then took a second to just gaze at the unconscious Red X. "It's strange to see him like this."

Barbara nodded in agreement, adding, "It's almost like a waste of effort doing all this."

"Red X is nothing more than a simple thief..." Raven stated evenly, but with hit of empathy in her tone, "He was annoying, but never hurt a single person... ..."

"He blow up an entire apartment building." Retorted the Dark Knight, "And tried to cover his tracks by placing dozens of bombs across Gotham."

"But that's nothing like he's regular M.O..." The former Boy Wonder had reviewed Batman's detailed report on his capture of Red X. It was one of a few other things on the mini-tablet Batgirl had gave him, and Robin had skimmed over the report a couple times while on the finally leg to Gotham. "Red X lives for the grab and chase. First braking into impregnable locations, then runs from highly skilled pursuers."

"But he did wait for Batman to caught up and fought it out with him." Barbara said, challenging Robin's reason.

"But he didn't make Batman chase him." The boy looked to his former mentor, crossing his arms as he asked, "How was he when you caught up with him?"

The Dark Knight complied with question, not one to let pride totally rule him, stating, "He was relaxed. Not expecting to encounter trouble, it seemed."

"Maybe someone else is in the suit?" BB posed, "Like, stole it from the original dude and started calling himself Red X."

Fox shook his head and retorted, "With all the strife we're having! How could it be anyone else get the suit from him."

"We're dealing with the real Red X, whoever he is..." The moody Titan declared.

Tapping his chin, Robin was struck with an idea, "Maybe we can finally find out...without remove the suit first!" Reaching down to Red X's side, the ex-Boy Wander lift up a tiny flap that revealed a USB port.

"Well, look at that." Fox related with grin.

"I built it in to download the video from the suits visor. It isn't made like the rest of the suit, so you might be able to break through it to take a simple to test."

Barbara moved next to Robin and examined the port. Use to her closeness, Batgirl and him squeezed together and studied the USB when she said, "Yep, we can break through the port's siding and draw some blood. Not a problem!" The Dark Knight promptly got up as the two moved away from Red X, then he grab a tool from his belt and use it's scissor-like head to slice into the USB port. Taking a syringe, he gathered some blood into it and gave it to Barbara. "I'll get this over to the Batcave, pronto, Boss."

"Didn't I see a DNA analyzer in the other room?" the cybernetic Titan posed, point his thumb towards the other room.

"Yeah, but it's not finished yet. I still need the tools to assemble the focusing array and-"

Batgirl was cut off by the buzzes and clanks from Cyborgs hands as they transformed into complex apparatuses, "Just call me, Mr. Hand-y!" Barbara smiled.

Stating that their work would only take half an hour, Barbara and Cy returned to larger room to finish the analyzer as Batman went back to working on how to remove Red X's suit. The former Boy Wonder walked off to explore the rest of the clock tower, knowing he couldn't help with Cyborg and Batgirl's assembly and having no interest in Batman. Finding a set of stairs, Robin ascended it to a terrace that wrapped around the top of the main room. He could survey the whole maze of boxes from up there, as well as friends, both old and new. Fox's white head loomed over Cy and Barbara's work, ready to help where he could. Lucius Fox, Wayne Enterprise's CEO, was who first supplied Bruce with the technology to become Batman. He was simply the head of R and D then, but put his neck out without asking any questions. The boy wasn't sure if Bruce had ever stated plainly to Lucius that he was Batman. Robin had developed a close relationship with Fox while working under the Dark Knight...though, not as close as with Barbara.

"Love Robin?" The boy twisted around to find Starfire, his girlfriend, stand there with an apprehensive expression.

"What is it, Star."

She opened her mouth to speak, but remained silent for a moment to collect her thoughts, "...Robin...You had worked with this Batgirl before?"

"Yes. She and I were both Batman's sidekicks for a number of years."

"And she and you...There is an affiliation between you two...a bond?"

"It's, ah...Starfire..." Robin was at lost of words. He swallowed and tried to his best to explain, "There was something between us. It was while ago... but I ended it. When Batman suggested that Batgirl and I were becoming sloppy, I gave it some thought and decided it wouldn't work out. But I should of know then that it was just the old man try to shape us into something we're not!... She said she understood my decision... ..."

"So, you and her would still be in this relationship...if it was not for your former mentor?"

"I-I don't know, Star!" Robin leaned on the terrace's railing, rubbing his neck as the sweat rolled down his face. "I thought I loved her...but I couldn't say with all that's happened between then. Not after... someone's death in our family... ..."

"Is there a reason you never told me?" The alien girl asked in struggled voice as the tears welled up in her eyes. A look of hurt shone across Starfire's face as she sniffled her nose.

The boy jumped over to her and gently held Star's cheeks in his hands. "I love you, Starfire. Batgirl was someone in the past...a friend now, but nothing more."

"But...I saw how closely she and you were standing before... I had thought-"

"It was nothing, Star. Nothing."

"You never mention a thing about Batgirl before!"

"I... didn't think..."

"What? Did not think what?!" Robin was back to corner by girlfriend, but he wasn't sure what to say to the alien girl that would make her understand. Starfire knocked his hands away from her and as the tears poured down her face, she related, "You always wish to treat me as a child! As though I require you to explain every little thing!" Dashing over railing, Star flew over to the glass clock face and pushed open one of it's overhead section, then called over to the boy, "I do not want to see you for a while..." She revealed her T-Communicator and threw it to Robin, "...nor speak with you. Please respect my wishes..."

"Star, wait!" he called. However, she was gone.

Robin clenched his fingers around girlfriend's com, staring down at it as he cursed under his breathe. He was an idiot, he knew, and now he's driven Starfire away. As the boy leaned against railing, he noticed Beast Boy stand a few feet away, "Not now...please..."

"Robin...there's trouble!"


Note: ('o')
Read & Review