Here's Chapter 7! Still only have one review, but oh well. I know people are reading it...But reviews are fantastic, you know! Enjoy

Disclaimer: If I owned TT...well, it'd be awesome if I owned TT, but I don't.

Ch 7: X

When I woke, I was clutching a piece of paper and a band aid was stuck to the inside of my elbow. Confused, I peeled the band aid back and found a prick mark. Hmm, they must have drawn blood for a test, or something. And the note…

Username: StRaNgErAOR

Password: demon

My lips formed a tight frown. Not only was it random, it was missing necessary information. What site? Who? What was I looking for?

While I attempted to figure out who had given me this, a knock came on my door. Curiously, I opened the door to find Onyx Owens grinning and standing in front of me with a package.

"Morning, Andy! Nightwing asked me to drop this off. It's just like your mom's," she stuffed the package into my hand.

"What? I don't want it," I tossed it back.

She frowned. "You don't want it? You're part of our team now; you have to have a uniform. Why don't you want your mom's old one?"

"Because I'm not my mom."

Those were the first furious words I'd spoken since my resurrection. Onyx sensed the anger and stepped back, still smiling. "Alright, I'll tell him. Breakfast is usually in an hour. I'd hurry before the boys get it all."

The prospect of breakfast was appealing but, oddly, I wasn't hunger. Picking up a blue towel, I headed for a long, warm shower and soon let the steam envelop me. It felt like the water was washing off all the grime from Afterlife, all the horrid grayness and depressed atmosphere. When I stepped out of the shower, dripping wet, there was a grey towel waiting. I hesitated before wrapping it around my body. Hadn't there been a blue…

Grabbing the towel, I stepped back into my room and dressed. My dad had been smart and packed me my favorite black shorts. They were made of heavy material and hung like parachutes around my knees. After digging around my bag for a few more minutes, I uncovered a loose white shirt and my black skater hat.

Cautiously, I stepped out into the hall. It was dark and cold. My footsteps were light on the carpet as I made my way through halls and up stairs. In theory, I knew what I was looking for. A big round room with a kitchen, a bunch of windows, and computers. But the name and location was unknown to me.

Soon, I opened a door, hoping to find breakfast. A huge room lay before me, filled with plates of metal and a scatter of tools. A car, huge, blue and decked out with electronic plates, was in the center of the room. Someone, two someones, were underneath it, tightening and bolting things.

"Um, hello?" I called out, leaning down. "Can I have directions?"

One of the people slid out from underneath the car with a metal mask concealing his/her face. Trevor lifted the mask to reveal a grin.

"You get lost?" he asked as he stood, brushing his shorts.

"Yup. Where's the, um, breakfast place?"

"We call it the living room and you're on the wrong side of the Tower, actually," his grin grew wider as he stepped behind me and through the door. "I can get you up there."

I thanked him and, silently, we headed up flights of stairs and walked down hallways. "So, Trevor. Do you have computers around here?"

"Yup, they're…well, I'll find you a map," he chuckled. "Do you skateboard?"

"Uh huh. But my board's back at my place," I said quietly as I remembered Nightwing's words. 'Your home has probably been destroyed by Specter's minions.'

"Don't worry about it. Well, here we are," he punched a number into a keypad and a door slid open. "The code's five, just so you know."

"Thanks, Trevor."

The living room was exactly as I'd been told it looked like. Red and black furnishings, huge windows, and a kitchen area. In that kitchen area, three teenagers and five adults were gathered. I walked over with my hands in my pockets.

"Here, kid," my dad tossed me an apple with a smile.

He never answered my question.

There's probably a reason for that.

True.

What's happening to that apple you're holding? Is it dying?

"What?" I spoke aloud and looked down at the green apple I'd caught.

Or the apple that was green. Now it was a sickening grey hue, shrinking and shriveling as it grew darker. The dark apple core rolled out of my hands. I watched in amazement as, on its way to the ground, the apple sized back up and had returned to its green color by the time it hit the floor.

"What the heck was that?" someone asked.

I looked up and saw a tall, green man looking at me incredulously. He was almost as tall as my dad and his skin…it was a deep green, almost as forest green as his eyes. The man wore a royal purple shirt and black jeans. His eyes were wide in shock.

"Did you just…what was that?!" he looked at my mom.

"Beast—Changeling, that was…" My dad leaned over and whispered something in my mom's ear. "An effect of Afterlife, how could I forget? She'll just need some gloves."

"Here, Andy," dad walked over and handed me two black gloves.

"Thanks," I muttered and pulled them on. They fit well.

Picking the apple back up, I walked to the other end of the table where the teenagers were standing, looking at me with wide eyes. "G'mornin, mates," I said in my practiced clipped accent. "Don't think I've met you," I said to the unfamiliar one. Had had ruffled blond hair and shining blue eyes and a sneer.

"Marv," he muttered, ignoring my outstretched hand.

Someone doesn't like me.

Just beat 'im up. No one'll stop you.

We've changed her name to Psychotic, don't worry.

Thanks.

"So what's this Afterlife everyone's talking about?" Onyx asked me, shoving Marv slightly.

A frown creased my lips. Afterlife was something I didn't really want to talk about too much. "It's this place you go when you die, I suppose."

"What was it like, dying?"

I was battered with questions about death and ignored my apple. Cage threw in a couple of questions as well. Marv, the guy with a problem, kept glancing over at us from the conversation he was having with Changeling.

The room suddenly pulsed red and everyone, including my mom and dad, stiffened. The big TV flashed and a scene appeared.

"It's Red X," Nightwing announced. "Cage, Onyx, Marv, get Trevor and head out."

The picture on the screen was catastrophic. What used to be a vault was shown with its sides curling back and smoking. Inside, a figure in black was gathering money into a bag. He turned and I got a full view of him. A red X slashed across his chest and his hands were grey gloves. His face was the picture of a white skull with another red X cutting across an eye. He was tall and lean with a grey belt and bags of money piled around him. A black cape hung off his shoulders menacingly. Red X walked over to the camera and leaned down, his eyes staring knives at me.

"Nice try, Titans," his voice was a deep, crystal computerization.

The screen went black and Nightwing swore. Onyx, Cage, and Marv had disappeared while I'd been staring at the screen. I had this urge to go and watch them fight.

"Raven, take your daughter out there. I want her to watch them fight," Nightwing muttered to my mother. It was like he was a mind reader.

My mom smiled slightly and grabbed my hand. Her skin was cold and callused but it felt good. I finally knew what my mom was, a half demon with telekinetic powers and capable of phasing. Black light encased my mother and me.

**^^**^^**^^**^^**^^**^^**

"Well, this sucks," I announced as I kicked a stone across the flat roof we were sitting on.

"Just watch, Andy," my mom snapped from her sitting position on the edge of the building. "You need to learn."

"Shouldn't this guy be old like you and your friends? He sure didn't look like he was any older," I grumbled, picturing the videos of Red X I'd seen online.

"Nightwing thinks this is his son. And I'm not old."

She couldn't see it, but I rolled my eyes. The scene below the building was exciting, sure, but I'd been watching for ten minutes. Cage was zipping all over, throwing punches and being punched. He sent out bolts of blue but Red X easily evaded them. I'd discovered Onyx's power. She could turn her whole body into a shiny, agile rock and shoot sharp slabs of rock from her palms. Only the smaller spears of rock came close to hitting the villain. Marv's power probably incorporated wind and fire, since he was a human flamethrower. It looked like, when he whistled a plume of fire erupted from his mouth and then he could blow on it, control its path with his hands. I made a mental note to try and be friends with him. Trevor was throwing the plates of metal that had made up the wall of the vault at the thief. Trevor hit Red X a few times but the famous thief's son was fast and agile.

Suddenly, Red X's glare shot up to me. I stumbled backward as he disappeared. As I retreated from the side of the roof, my body bumped into something.

"Oof, sorry, mom," I said as I turned.

But the person I'd bumped into wasn't my petite mother. The man was a few inches taller than me and his chest was a hard plane of muscle. A red X slashed across his breast.

Red X grabbed my throat and turned my body, pushing me against his chest as his grip tightened. A cool piece of metal dug against my throat. I struggled against his grip but even my strength couldn't overcome his.

Mom had stood up and was frozen in shock. Onyx, Cage, Trevor and Marv had arrived on the roof and were stock still as they stared.

"Let her go, X," Cage yelled, his mask stretching slightly as his mouth opened.

"Hmm, let's see. No," the computerized voice taunted. "And you, metal boy. Don't even think about it. I've got plenty of other things I can kill her with."

My eyes widened considerably at that. Cage stepped forward and the knife pressed into my throat so hard, it broke skin. The pain, even though it was minimal, roared and tore across my body.

Oh no. Pain is taking adv—

I stomped down hard on Red X's foot and elbowed him in the gut. He let go in surprise and I aimed a quick punched at his head. Red X flew across the roof, scrabbling for traction until he had just a hand clinging onto the roof edge. Something drove me over there to look down at him. I felt my eyes narrow as I leaned down.

"Don't," I plucked one of his fingers from the edge. "Touch." Another. "Me." Another.

Red X disappeared as he pushed a button on his belt. I stood as my anger began to die down. My fingers graced the cut on my neck. It was a small cut and hardly any blood was trickling from it.

"That is so unfair! We've never gotten that close to defeating him!" Onyx complained as she returned to her human form.

"Andy, are you okay?" Mom was a dwarf below me as she reached up to touch my cut.

"Ow, yes mom, I'm fine. Just, give me a second," I muttered as I stepped toward the edge of the roof.

Let's see what they think of this.

Don't Andy. Don't do it!

You can do it. We all know it. Just jump.

**^^**^^**^^**^^**^^**^^**

"She's suicidal! Absolutely insane, I told you!" Marv yelled as Andromeda stepped off the side of the roof.

But no one was listening. All the superheroes on the roof were gathered at the edge, staring down. Cage and Onyx were terrified. Trevor was confused; he knew Andy was smarter than that. And what reason did she have to kill herself? She just came back to life. Rachel Ryder-Roth smirked.

Andy hit the ground at top speed, landing lightly and set off across the street. Rachel knew that she would be running for a while. Andy seemed to constantly need to run. For what reason, Rachel didn't know.

"She'll be back later. Just let her run," Rachel told the teenagers before disappearing.

Cage glanced down to the sidewalk one last time before walking back to his team. "Let's go clean things up."

Marv was the first down to the vault and when his teammates appeared, he was scratching his head. "So he disappears and doesn't come back for the money? He must've been freaked."

"Well that's always a good thing," Onyx commented, picking up a sack of money and emptying it.

They worked in silence until Trevor started to talk. "She can't fly, I can tell that much. Maybe she can land a twenty story fall and run real fast, but she can't fly like us. I'm going to start working on that for her."

"Nightwing will probably put me in charge of training her," Cage muttered.

"Don't get hurt, Cage," Marv commented snidely.

"Oh shut up, Marv. She won't wear her mom's costume so we'll have to come up with something else," Onyx said as they exited the vault.

Trevor finished mending the vault door and joined the three superheroes. He sighed as the reporters started streaming toward them. "This'll be interesting."

A smile flickered across Scar's lips as the first question was asked. "We're proud to say that Red X fled the scene without any money being stolen…."

There we go! Chapter 7 is over..Hope you liked. Review on the way out, mayhaps?

~writingtitanslove