Raven soon rejoined me after finishing her 'stretching out' flight. We plodded along towards the Tower at a sedate fifty miles per hour, the fastest I can go on a disk with any semblance of comfort. We were flying over the roof of a large, wide building. I swept my eyes over the sprawling city, enjoying the sense of freedom that flight can bring to anyone, when a grenade blew up just beneath my disk.

The concussion was blocked by the disk, but I was thrown up, turning head over heels, disoriented, the disk vanishing. I started falling, trying desperately to find my bearings and create a disk below me, but I couldn't tell which way was down. Part of me realized that by the time I could make sense of my directions, I would be a red stain on the building's roof.

A black mist formed around me and I was deposited, not quite gently, on top of the roof. The mist cleared and I caught a glimpse of Raven descending, her hands still encased in that black, magical aura. I flashed her a grin and a thumbs-up and then quickly turned to scan my surroundings, trying to find out who or what attacked us.

As I was searching, I heard Raven's cry, suddenly cut off. I whipped around, just to see her falling down, slamming onto the roof. I conjured a disk, hopped onto it and sped over to where she fell.

I jumped off the disk and kneeled beside her. She was conscious but obviously dazed by the fall. She must have fallen some ten feet, enough to rattle your teeth, or even break something if you didn't fall right. But that concern was secondary right now. She was wrapped up completely in some sort of red material, like a fabric, shaped like an X, which hugged her all around and immobilized both her arms and partly her legs. There was another, much smaller red X over her mouth, not allowing her to chant her mantra. I quickly created a blade and sliced carefully into the constricting material, being mindful of not hurting her.

I had already cut through the fabric holding her right arm and I was just going to free her left arm, when I heard a mocking voice behind me.

"You know, I always admired you, Match."

I spun around, lengthening the blade and creating another one in my left hand. I was treated to the sight of a young man in a black costume, a red X mark on his chest. He had a mask or helmet shaped like a skull, again with the same stylized red X on his forehead.

"You have a strange way of showing it" I told him as I circled around him. He looked like a young version of Slade, standing there with his legs set wide, his arms slightly forward, his fists closed but not clenched. But that was where the similarity ended. Whoever faced Slade could not but remember the sheer power that emanated from him, the sense of danger and menace that was almost palpable. This guy only radiated a self-assuredness that bordered on arrogance. He had a lot to learn. I would gladly teach him.

"You would be Red X" I told him. "I heard about you. Flashy threads."

He bowed tauntingly. "Not as flashy as your cape."

I felt my anger rising. "Don't you dare say it" I told him.

"Why, Match, I would never do anything to anger you!" he said in his mocking voice. "I am your greatest fan! I wouldn't dream of calling you Li –"

He had to shut up so that he could duck the two disks that were slicing towards him.

I followed the disks, laying into him with my blades. "Did Slade hire you?" I asked as I stabbed my left blade towards his chest.

"Come, now, Match" he said as he twisted to avoid my stab, his voice still taunting me. "You know we're not supposed to –" as he spun, his right hand clenched into a fist, arcing for my head. "– disclose who the client is!"

I ducked under his strike and stabbed again with my right blade. He didn't have time to dodge, but his left hand came down, a ghostly X glowing in his palm. He struck my blade with it and deflected it. Not expecting this, I staggered forward, losing my balance for a split second. His right hand came down in a slashing motion, his palm open, to strike me in the neck behind my head. I pushed myself with my legs, using the momentum of my stagger as a starting point to jump forward and roll over my shoulder, his strike missing and hitting painfully but harmlessly on my shoulder blade. I sprung up to my feet and spun around throwing two disks at him, just to keep him away until I could get my bearings back.

We circled each other warily. "But to answer your question, no. Nobody hired me" he spoke.

"So you want it for yourself" I said, almost casually tossing a couple of disks at him. He dodged them just as casually and nodded.

"It's worth a lot of money."

"Idiot!" I shouted as I threw two more disks his way, springing in after them, slashing with my blades. "Why do you think I broke that contract?"

He dodged the first disk and swatted the other from the air with the X-shaped force field in his palm. He blocked my right blade and twisted to avoid the left one, continuing the turn to deliver a roundhouse kick to my head. I saw it coming and dropped down, my right leg lashing out to undercut him. He nimbly jumped up, letting my leg sweep under his foot, but I was ready. I twisted my body around and delivered a kick upwards with my left leg, catching him in the belly. He saw my attack and tried to spin away from it, but he was too slow. My kick connected and he rode it, using its momentum to fall back a few steps and catch his breath.

"I love your eyes when you're angry" he said, still mocking, but there was an almost imperceptible wince to his eyes as he said it. Speaking probably hurt. I grinned maliciously.

I went after him to capitalize on my advantage. He blocked my blades with the X-shaped force fields in his palms and tried to deliver a kick to my midsection. He forgot that his own belly was still tender and winced at the pain, unconsciously slowing his leg. This gave me time to spin away from it, starting a windmill cut with both blades extended.

As my first blade approached him, Raven's face flashed in my mind. I twisted the blades so as to strike him with the flat of the blade and not the edge. I shouldn't have bothered.

He ducked under the first blade and blocked the second one with his glowing X, jabbing his left fist into my kidneys. His strike was weakened because he didn't have the space to swing fully, but it still hurt like hell. I twisted away from him, breathing heavily, holding my side. He smirked, the arrogance returning to his eyes.

I got angry and launched myself at him. He dodged and deflected the disks I threw at him, waiting until I was close to fire a couple of X-shaped shurikens at me. This took me by surprise and I barely managed to cut one down and swat the other aside before he was upon me. He was much smaller than Slade, but he still had the advantage of weight and strength over me. He carried us both to the ground, pinning me down with his body, holding my wrists with his hands. He lowered his face until my nose could almost touch his mask and whispered "Rawr!"

That was it. Raven or no Raven, he was dead. I created a disk beside his head and sent it spinning at him. Luckily for him, as I created the disk I had to swivel my eyes to see where it was. He followed my gaze and realized his danger. He sprang up, releasing me, his right leg kicking my head.

I rolled sideways, managing to evade most of the kick, but his sole still left a painful, burning, bloody scrape on my temple. I shook my head to clear it from the white sparks dancing in front of my eyes and faced him again, adrenaline pumping through my veins.

He came at me, shooting an X-shaped something from his left palm. I had no idea what it was, nor did I care. I cut it out from the air with an outward sweep of my left blade, using the motion of my shoulders and hips to follow with a stab with the right-hand one. His left hand snaked down, a glowing X on its palm ready to deflect my stab downwards just like before, but this time I was ready for it. As his hand streaked on its way I dismissed the blade. His palm sailed through empty air, staggering him, his eyes widening as he realized he fell into my trap. My fist continued, now bladeless, to smash wrist-deep into his belly. He bent over as his breath whooshed out, in perfect position for me to knee him in the mask. He was thrown a few steps back, falling heavily.

He got to his feet quickly, gasping. My eyes narrowed; he seemed capable of absorbing a lot of punishment. Few opponents would have been left standing after such a combo.

He lifted his arms and two X-shaped projectiles sped from his open palms at me, but I blocked them with a defensive disk. I then flipped the disk around and sent it spinning like a buzzsaw towards him. He sidestepped it and tried to get closer to me, just to see two more disks heading his way, one above the other. He jumped forward between the disks, one of them slicing off a small part of his cape as he fell in a forward roll, jumping up to his feet almost in front of me, his left hand a blur closing with my head.

I grinned in his face. As his fist drew closer, a disk materialized in front of it. I braced my mind for the impact. His fist struck the disk. My mind felt the blow, almost staggering me, but it was a lot better than receiving the actual hit. His hand, however, could not make such a claim.

He fell back, holding his left wrist, looking at me, the cockiness finally leaving his eyes.

My grin widened even more. "Now you know why you admire me" I told him.

He fumbled with something on his belt and suddenly disappeared. I looked around, concerned, searching for him. Suddenly he materialized twenty feet away, where I had to drop the briefcase so that I could fight him. I was too far away. I started running towards him, cursing myself for my carelessness, but I knew I would never get there in time.

His hand went down to grab the briefcase, just as a black nimbus formed around it. He sprang back, surprised. Raven was advancing towards him, free from all the constraints he threw at her previously. He glanced at me, still running at him, then back at Raven, realizing he was now in deep trouble. He gave us a mocking bow.

"Ladies, if you'll excuse me?" With that he disappeared for good.

I got to the briefcase and picked it up, turning to Raven. "Good to see you managed to free yourself!"

"Oh, I did that almost immediately. We had a run-in with Red X previously; he already caught me once before with that trick. I made a point of learning how to get rid of his wrappings quickly since."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, thanks for nothing, then!"

"You didn't look like you needed help" she said, a beatific smile on her face.

"You're getting too smart for your own good, young lady" I told her, only half-joking.

"I had a good teacher" she smirked.

We realized that we made a blunder by not calling the rest of the Titans immediately to escort us to the Tower. Raven picked up her communicator and contacted Robin to explain our situation and request assistance.

Less than ten minutes later, the four of them were at our side. I waved away all their questions.

"This is not a good place to chat. Let's get back to the Tower and we'll fill you in."

I glided on my disk towards the Tower, Raven and Starfire flitting on my flanks, Beast Boy covering our backs. Robin and Cyborg were driving beneath us, trying to keep up as best they could. We soon arrived without further incidents and we all gathered in the Ops Room.

I sat beside Raven on the couch and told them the whole story, glancing at Raven every now and then to make sure I did not miss anything. Of course, I skipped the more personal conversations that Raven and I had. There was no need for them to know. Raven didn't mind me doing so.

"So we're back at square one!" Robin growled, frustrated. "How did they know you were coming?"

"I can think of several ways. The aircraft charter information could have leaked; someone might have had the airport under observation and noticed us, either here or in Gotham; we may also have been followed since we left the Tower. It is even possible that they knew that a neutrino scan would reveal the contents of the briefcase and they covered all the possible labs that we could approach. There are not many of those kicking around, after all."

I did not mention another possibility. I knew what their reaction would be and I didn't want to waste my time fighting them.

Robin shook his head, dismissing it all. "It really doesn't matter. We need to find a way to look inside it." He turned to Cyborg. "Can you whip up a detector yourself?"

Cyborg frowned, pondering. "I could do it, but it will take time. I'd say two weeks at the earliest, but easily a lot more than that. There's the issue of shielding, and finding the ultra-pure germanium –"

"I'll leave the details to you" Robin cut him off. "I don't see anything else we can do. Let us use the time to think about other possibilities." He rose and left the Ops Room.

Cyborg looked at him leave, shrugged and got up to start on his new assignment. The other Titans, apparently used to their leader's moodiness, resumed their usual pastimes. I followed Robin.

I caught up with him before he entered his room. My rubber soles made no sound as I approached him and touched his shoulder. He spun around to face me, almost falling into defensive position, before recognizing me and relaxing.

"Sorry to startle you" I said.

"That's OK. You wanted to talk?"

I nodded. He opened the door to his room and gestured for me to come in.

I walked into his room. He followed, closing the door as I turned to face him. He stood in front of me, arms folded across his chest, waiting for me to speak. I lifted an eyebrow.

"Aren't you going to offer me a seat?"

"We both know this is not a social visit. What did you want?"

I realized he did not trust me. For a moment anger surged in me, then I remembered I'd behaved towards them in a very similar manner. I had no moral grounds to complain about his attitude.

I sighed, burying my anger. "Two things" I said. "First, there may be another reason why Raven and I were attacked in Gotham."

He nodded. "I know. Thanks for not bringing it up. I'm not sure if the others would understand. Do you suspect anyone in particular?"

Good. He was not a lost cause, after all. I shook my head. "All of you. Even Raven, though she was with me and had several opportunities to get the briefcase and run away with it. The possibility is vanishingly small, but it is there. Ignoring it can only bring problems."

"I agree and I will keep it in mind. And I will keep an eye on you."

"Good. You're learning."

"What was the other thing?"

"The other thing is that I may – just may – have someone that could help us. I wanted to ask you to spare Cyborg for a couple of hours so we can visit him, maybe bring him here to help."

His eyebrow shot up. "Do it. If you need him here, bring him."

I nodded my agreement and turned to leave.

"Match?"

I turned to face him.

"I don't want to lose that briefcase from my sight, and I know you feel the same. How about you stay here until we can clear this mess up? We have several spare rooms."

I gave him a sly smile. "And that way you can always keep your eye on me, right?"

He smiled back, a mischievous smile that went well with his youthful face. "Of course. And you can watch us, too."

Excellent. We understood each other perfectly. I laughed. "You have a deal" I told him.

I was just about to turn to leave when he touched my arm. I looked at his hand, then into his eyes. "I'm sure the others will be happy that you'll be staying" he said, softly.

I didn't blush, but it was a close call. I just nodded and left his room.

Visiting Darren with someone as conspicuous as Cyborg made any precautionary measures pointless. I just created a large levitating disk, helped Cyborg on board and we were off.

We reached Darren's house quickly enough. It was fairly early in the morning, and I knew Darren usually stayed until the wee hours working, but there was no helping it. I rang the bell.

After a while, a bleary, unshaven and very sleepy Darren opened the door. His eyes widened as he saw me, and then he saw Cyborg. I have never seen eyes so close to popping out of someone's head. Or someone's jaw drop so far down, for that matter.

"Darren? Would you mind picking up your jaw off the floor and letting us in?" I asked him. His eyes turned to me, his mouth closed, he snapped out of his daze.

"Yes… Yes, please! Come in, come in!"

We walked in. "This is Cyborg, of the Teen Titans" I introduced Cyborg, even though it was obviously unnecessary. "Cyborg, this is Darren."

"Hey, dude, great to meet you!" Cyborg offered him his metallic paw. Darren took it, stammering.

"Hey, I'm Cyborg… I mean, you're Darren…" he closed his eyes, forced himself to calm down, opened them again. "I'm Darren. This is really an honor. I am a great fan of the Titans!"

"I've noticed" Cyborg said dryly, but not unkindly. He frowned at me, but I could not help shaking with silent laughter while watching the entire scene.

Darren recovered fully and herded us to the living room, offering us seats while he sat on the armrest of an armchair. "What brings you to me?"

"We are working on a project" I told him. "We need someone that knows experimental neutrino physics. I know you're some kind of physicist, so I hoped you would be able to help us, or at least point us to the right person."

He raised his eyebrows. "What kind of project?"

"A small neutrino detector, high resolution" Cyborg explained. "Something like an X-ray machine, but using neutrinos."

Darren frowned. "I don't specialize in neutrinos. I'm working with dark matter, specifically WIMPs."

"Same thing, dude, they both interact only gravitationally with normal matter." Cyborg replied.

"Far from being the same thing. WIMPs have mass, while neutrinos barely react with the Higgs field –"

"I'll go make some coffee before my head starts hurting. You two guys have fun." I said, rubbing my temples and raising from the couch where I was sitting. I left them to their discussion and went to the kitchen.

I made coffee and returned to the living room carrying a tray with coffee, cream, sugar and mugs. I dropped it in front of them. They never noticed.

I poured coffee for Darren and myself. "How do you drink your coffee, Cy?" I asked. He was totally oblivious. They were already into discussing the shielding, detectors, photomultipliers and a bunch of other technical issues that went way over my head.

"Cyborg!" I shouted. They both started, looking at me. "Coffee. How?"

"Black, two sugars" he said, grinning. He turned to Darren. "Dude, how about you come with us to the Tower and we can continue there? Otherwise Match will make hamburgers out of us!"

"Right!" I scowled at them. "Boys!" I grumbled, shaking my head, pouring Cyborg his coffee.