Disclaimer: No, I still don't own a darn thing.
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The Skyline Tower Apartments.
Tomoyo was at her computer inside her bedroom, typing away at a word processor. She's been like this for up to three hours now, just typing. What was she typing exactly? Her latest book on the fundamentals of martial arts across the world.
By then, half the book was already finished. Occasionally she would look back at the things she's written and try and judge herself without being too biased to herself. So far so good, she thought to herself. But she wouldn't really know until the thing actually got published. Something she was looking forward to.
She finished up her typing for the day. A few last sentences then she saved it into a special hidden folder, and finally put the computer to sleep. Something she thought she should be doing herself. She stood up from her chair and made her way to her closet to change.
After she changed into her nightgown, she automatically went to bed. On her way, she briefly caught a glimpse of her cellphone. It still had the same background wall paper on its screen: a picture of the three of them on that one vacation. She focused on the image of her son mostly. Her thoughts then moved to the current situation.
Looking back, Nick had acted a bit suspiciously over the last few days. He went out a lot recently, and Tomoyo was sure it wasn't just about that girl, Tara, he's his been seeing lately. Wile she was a bit concerned, ultimately she didn't fret much. She has learned since his more younger days that Nick was trustworthy.
She considered it something of a talent of his. Nick grew up in an environment where he learned from an early age how to manage himself when taking risk. It was his father's legacy in him. Nick was trained as soon as he learned to crawl the basics on how to get what he wants. Tomoyo recalled those early days.
When nick was just a toddler, barely able to speak, his father started training him in a sense. Nick had a favorite toy car back in those days and that was what his father used to establish a goal. Whenever Nick reached out to the toy car, indicating he wanted it, his father would pick it up and put it down a good distance away. Nick would cry at first but soon realize that if he wanted it, he had to get. He would crawl to the toy car instead of waiting for his father to give it to him.
As time passed, the training got a bit harder. His father started placing the toy car on high places like on top of a chair. Nick had to try harder or become a little more creative. Often he would stumble a bit and hurt himself slightly, but he never cried again. No matter what the challenge, he always got that darn car. Even though Nick soon outgrew the toy car, the proud expressions he saw on his father's face was more than enough of a reward.
This was how Nick became the way he was. From his earliest childhood, Nick learned what it took to reach certain goals; taking risks, creativity, and a rock hard determination. Ever since then, there was almost nothing out of Nick's reach. It made him excel in just about everything significant to him. Marvin, when he was alive, was proud at that. And so was Tomoyo. She knew enough to trust her son and not worry about him. He could take care of himself just fine.
She tucked herself in for the night, feeling secured.
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Somewhere else that night.
What really completes a city is its own personal landmark. For this city, it was the Jump City Suspension Bridge. A testament to the power of human engineering, the bridge stands to signify what the city was all about: people getting the job done to make life easier. In the day it's bustling with traffic but at night it's a tad quieter.
But all the glamour of the bridge can only be usually found on top. Down below, in the banks of the water, where the bridge meets land, a small population of less fortunate homeless people was keeping warm for the night among an assortment of rubbish.
Some of the homeless where huddled together right next to the brick wall which consisted the bridges base, sleeping under ragged old blankets. Some were playing a game using old soda bottle caps. Some were simply standing around a single drum barrel, old and rusty, containing a hot burning fire, fueled by more assorted trash inside the drum.
As for the myriad of junk around them, there was a pile of old chairs, a stack of rotting wooden crates, an old TV with it's screen cracked, a very old stereo, a disused cabinet with one of its doors missing, an old dresser with all its drawers missing, an old computer monitor also with a cracked screen, a refrigerator, a file cabinet, some glass bottles here and there, half a dining table, and, interestingly enough, a large plaster model of a T-Rex that looked like it was used in movie set or some kind of carnival ride.
The night passed on without anything happening. One would almost think it would be a quiet night. But then again, this was Jump City. And this city has a bit of a reputation when it came to quiet nights…
"Aaaaargggghhh!"
The scream was followed by the distinct sound of something crashing into something else. Anyone who was asleep woke up and all the people under the bridge looked in the general direction of the noise. They were caught-off guard by a computer monitor that was flying directly at them.
Those in the path of the airborne monitor scrambled out of its way and the monitor ended up crashing right into the flaming barrel. The barrel violently burst open where rust was concentrated and spilled burning debris as it tipped over.
Everyone heard another loud crashing sound and turned in that direction. A pile of wooden crates just collapsed forcedly and kicked up a large cloud of dust and moss. As the dust cleared the figure of Red X could be seen, breathing heavily and loudly. Everyone looked at him with a fearful glance.
Red X slowly turned towards the people and gave them a very, very menacing glare. People started to slowly back away. For a while Red X didn't move or speak. His shoulders were clearly heaving up and down from heavy breathing and everyone could hear it in the silence of the night.
"What the hell are you looking at?" he suddenly exclaimed with a raging voice to the crowd.
Everyone was now scrambling away from the costumed thief and out of the general area. A few people grabbed what little valuables they had as they left and none of them dared to look bock. Red x didn't bother pursuing them. He was left standing alone.
"Aaaarrrgghhhh!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
He backhanded the pile of chairs which caused the pile to violently collapse to the ground around him. He then picked up a chair and tossed it straight to the ground, breaking apart into splinters. He then grabbed another chair and tossed it behind him without looking even after he heard it crash into something.
He quickly moved and grabbed the old stereo. He angrily tossed it against the brick wall of the bridges base causing it to explode in a flurry of twisted plastic and circuitry. He started moving again, this time to the unused cabinet. He threw a punch at its one remaining door and broke it a new hole.
Red x violently yanked his hand away which accidentally ripped the door right off its hinges. Red X grabbed the door and tossed it like a discus to the brick wall where it shattered into splinters. He then grabbed the rest of the cabinet and tipped it over. It broke apart as it hit the ground. Red X stepped away and turned to see the large T-Rex plaster model. From where he stood, it looked like it was laughing at him with its sharp, jagged teeth.
"Daaaaaahhhh!" he yelled angrily.
It was enough to drive the crimson thief up the wall. He grabbed the broken TV set and threw it at the giant plaster animal. The impact was enough to break apart the plaster animal and cause it to collapse in a discernable pile of broken plaster and dust.
"Aaarrgghh!" he continued to yell out, "That bastard!"
He moved up next to the fallen barrel that he accidentally hit with the computer monitor earlier and violently kicked right off the floor and, again, towards the brick wall. The barrel was so old and rusty that it exploded into dozens of pieces of burning aluminum as it impacted the brick wall.
"That bastard!" he continued, "That bastard! That goddamn, son-of-a-whore, bastard!"
He turned around and moved to the old dresser. With one swipe of his newly bladed hand, he completely disintegrated the old piece of dilapidated furniture. Pieces of old and rotting wood flew everywhere. Some caught fire from the spilled debris that was still burning. It gave the air an ominous glow of amber.
Those who knew what kind of a person Red X was like would be more than a little curious at the current behavior he was displaying. Ordinarily, Red X was the thief known for his coolness and calculation on the battle field, never the one to fall under the pressure. Above all, Red x was completely unemotional.
This was not that same thief, While the person under the mask remained the same, the mindset that made Red x a feared creature of the dark was gone at that moment. All that was left as it seemed was a raging beast that was now conquered by anger and hate. How did he end up like this?
To understand that, one must first look back at previous events that night.
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Earlier that night.
A familiar Alfa Romeo pulled up to lavish looking hotel in the northern district of Jump City. It pulled up to the main entrance and stopped in front of the door as usual. A valet opened the door for the driver and out cam Bruno in all the glory of his relatively cheap suit.
Bruno tipped the valet and walked into the hotel as his car was parked for him. He walked passed the front doors into the rather lavish lobby which he was used to by now having come in and out many times on errands for Mr. Falcone. Though he liked it, he wasn't going to miss it. This was probably thelast night he'd see the place.
Why? Falcone has moved, that's why. The penthouse suite they were using was just a temporary base of operations. About a week ago, arrangements for the new and permanent base of operations was already made and the move was made way earlier in the day. All Bruno had to do was finish up some stuff here and he'd move away himself.
Bruno was here to pick up some stuff and to settle the hotel bill. He walked up to the elevator and pressed the button for the penthouse suite. He had to use a special key in the elevator to access the suite. The ride took all of five minutes. Bruno was mildly annoyed at the elevator music which was a lousy rendition of the classic Beatles song "Good Day Sunshine."
When the door opened he breath a sigh of relief as the song finally ended. After taking two steps, his relief suddenly turned to utter shock. He found himself looking at the image of the crimson thief, Red X, standing in the middle of the lavish, and otherwise empty, penthouse suite. Bruno was frozen where he stood.
"Nice crib you got here," said Red X in a cold voice.
Bruno reacted with slight hesitation, drawing the pistol hidden in his suit. As soon as he put it out, he suddenly found it flying off of his hand and onto the floor. He stared at it dumbfounded and found a red x-shuriken sticking out of the side, rendering it inoperable. He looked up again and couldn't react in time to avert the fist flying towards his face.
Bruno fell against the doors of the elevator he just exited from. Red x was walking towards him menacingly. He growled under his breath. He did not become the number one officer of the biggest drug lord of the west coast to be beat up by some freak in a creepy Halloween costume.
Bruno got back up surprisingly quickly. Red X didn't seem to expect something like this. Bruno threw a quick jab at Red X but the thief was quick enough to block the jab before it impacted his face. Red x managed to grab the fist in mid-air and redirect it to the side. Red X then side-stepped to distance himself away from Bruno, who just proved himself a little more dangerous than initially thought.
Red X took a ready stance while Bruno did the same. Bruno, proving to be the more aggressive of the two, charged in, fist high in the air. Red X was more nimble and easily dodged the jab that came down on him. Red X quickly countered with a knee to the stomach which forced Bruno to stumble back slightly, though he didn't look that hurt.
Red X was the one to charge now, sending a powerful kick towards Bruno's chest. The impact didn't bother the large thug that much and this caught Red X off-guard. Bruno then grabbed onto Red X's leg and tossed him like a wet rag across the room. Red X agonizingly crashed into a nearby desk breaking it into splinters.
Bruno grunted and moved towards a dining set of furniture. He picked up a chair like it weighed nothing and held it high over his head. Red X was just recovering and saw Bruno's action then immediately had little doubt what the thug was about to do. Predictably enough, Bruno tossed the piece of furniture towards Red X's fallen person. The thief rolled quickly to the side avoiding the chair as it broke apart on the floor.
Red X got up as quick as he can and immediately stretched out his hand to shoot an x-taser. Bruno saw thin sparking projectile come at him and reacted accordingly by picking up the dining table and held it out as a shield. The x-taser impacted the table and fizzled out harmlessly.
Finding new use for the table, Bruno charged with it towards his perceived direction of Red X. The thief readied to evade and once he thought it was the right time, Red X gracefully leapt up and over the charging table. Bruno, who was unable to see the thief evade him, kept on charging and ended up crashing into a liquor cabinet.
The glass doors of the cabinet busted open and bottles of gin and rum began toppling to the floor. Bruno angrily dropped the table onto the floor on its side then turned around to face the crimson thief. Red X was already running his way and, upon reaching a close enough distance, threw a hook right at Bruno's face.
The fist made impact but Bruno's face hardly move nor did he show any sign of feeling the punch. Red x reeled back his other hand and went for his stomach. Bruno bent slightly over from the hit, but still didn't show that much discomfort. In a last attempt, Red X head butted the man. Bruno reeled his head back but soon came back with a much powerful head butt which forced Red X to stumble back and be momentarily stunned.
Bruno took this chance to deliver a vicious upper-cut which nailed Red X right in the stomach and sent him flying across the room. He collided with the wall on his back and fell back to the floor face first. With his enemy momentarily out of it, Bruno turned back towards the table and broke off one of its legs. He then held that leg like a bat, slapping it against his palm repeatedly.
Red x was just recovering at that point but Bruno was already approaching him menacingly, makeshift bat at hand. Red X was able to recover in time to look up and see Bruno about to drop him with the wooden table leg. Red X rolled to the side and Bruno's wooden weapon hit nothing but floor. Red x turned slightly and kicked the weapon right out of Bruno's hands.
Red X then leapt to his feet but backed away from Bruno, now realizing just how big a threat he really is. Bruno was grunting loudly and bearing his teeth on the thief, who looked scrawny compared to himself. Red x continued to back away as they reached the center of the room. The thief was weighing his options carefully.
"How the hell did you find this place?" asked Bruno.
"Well," Red X replied nonchalantly, "you squeeze enough people, one of them is bound to know something. It took me quite a while find someone with that kind of information. Had to blow up a lot of stuff to do it too."
"So, you really were the one doing all that. You'll pay for it. I don't know what you got against Mr. Falcone, but you'll pay for what you've done."
"Not before he pays for what he's done first."
"What are you? Some kind of hero wannabe?"
Red X's voice turned a bit colder. "I'm no hero…"
"You're not getting any clearer, buddy."
"Why should I be any clearer? Everything I do is straightforward. No need to get any clearer than that. I'm just here to do what I'm here to do."
"Whose side are you on?"
"Mine."
"Then why all the theatrics then? If it's money you want, you can work for Mr. Falcone. We call always find a job for a guy like you."
"I don't want anything to do with that bastard. He took enough away from me as it is. He'll be the one paying at the end of all this. I'll make sure of it."
Bruno was a bit puzzled by this statement for a while before he finally understood the underlying content and a sinister smile spread across his face. "Oh… I see now… well, buddy, you have to understand this is business. I'm sorry for your… loss but we do what we have to do to ensure our competitiveness. You understand this right?"
Red X's demeanor suddenly turned a whole lot colder. "The only thing that I understand is that you took something away from me. And the only thin you need to understand is that I don't give a rat's ass what you have to do to maintain this shit-load of a drug empire you have. I am the Red X; I live for myself and myself alone. You made a mistake when you messed with me and as such I will take actions which I deem is fair. All of you, and especially Falcone, will face trials in my hands. Trials in crimson!"
Red x suddenly charged at Bruno. Bruno held his fists ready but was caught off-guard when Red suddenly disappeared all of a sudden. Bruno didn't realize that Red X had materialized behind him so Bruno wasn't able to evade the backhand that clobbered the back of his head.
The hit was hard enough that Bruno actually fell on his knees and hands. Red X quickly followed up with a drop kick to the back. Bruno was floored and had the wind knocked-out of him. Red X then moved to his side and kicked the fallen Bruno up into the air through the added strength of his suit. Bruno flew then slid across the room and ended up crashing right through the glass doors which lead out onto the balcony. He also tipped over the outdoor furniture on his way, toppling over some chairs and breaking a glass table top.
Bruno got up and reached into his suit and retrieved a switch blade. He held it ready for Red X when he would approach but never really got the chance to use it since he suddenly felt his entire arm go numb. He found the reason for it as an x-shuriken was suddenly embedded in his shoulder blade. He yanked out the x-shuriken with his other hand.
When he was about to pick up his switchblade, Red X was already upon him and he couldn't react in time as the crimson thief leapt up into the air and delivered a powerful kick to Bruno's face, effectively breaking his nose. Bruno flew backwards and accidentally broke through the balcony railing that was overlooking the city.
He would have fallen to his death his legs not been lassoed by Red X with a grappling cable just before they went over with the rest of his body. Bruno was now helplessly dangling upside-down over a forty story drop to the street bellow. He did his best not to pee his pants and he was failing miserably.
"Who arranges the murders?" asked Red X coldly.
"What?" replied Bruno.
"How does Falcone kill the people he thinks are in his way? Tell me!"
"I-I-I don't know!"
Red X let some more grappling cable slip from his gauntlet causing Bruno to drop another few inches causing the hanging thug to yelp nervously.
"I won't ask again," exclaimed Red X, "Who arranges the murders in this business? Who picks the targets? Answer me or I'll drop you!"
"Benedict!"
"What?"
"Benedict! Detective Robert Benedict of the JCPD!"
It was then that something inside Red X crumbled into a million indiscernible pieces. He felt the world being pulled from under him as he tried to process the information in his head. He couldn't breath and he couldn't speak. He couldn't even blink for a while as Bruno kept talking and Red x had no choice but to keep listening.
"He's the one who arranges all the hits for Falcone. Been working with us for years now. He makes sure that no-one gets too close to Falcone, especially the cops. He takes out anyone who does. He's been with us everywhere we take our operation at, like Gotham and Opal. It's his job."
Red X was breathing heavily. His eyes were getting narrower. Softly at first but growing louder by the second, he growled in anger.
"aaaaaaarrrrrgghhHHH!"
Red X violently pulled on the grappling rope that held Bruno and yanked him back onto the balcony. Bruno didn't know whether he should be relieved or terrified. He felt the grappling cable loosen and his feet get free. He looked up to see Red X who was absolutely fuming even from behind. Bruno started crawling backwards. For a long while Red X said nothing and didn't face Bruno.
When Red X did look at him, Bruno felt his blood freeze in his veins. Red X menacingly stepped towards him and stood over him like a hunter would a fallen prey. When the thief spoke, his voice was the coldest it could get.
"Get out," he said. "If I ever see your face in this town again, I'll rip it off and feed it back to you. Understand?"
Bruno nervously nodded, got up and ran for the elevator. That was the last anybody saw of him in Jump City.
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Back at the present, under the bridge.
More stuff met the brick wall as what looked like another broken TV smashed into it and exploded into smithereens. Red had yet to slow his breathing which didn't look like it would happen anytime soon that night. His shoulders were still heaving with every breath.
"Benedict!" he exclaimed.
He brought a hand down on an old dresser. The impact split the dresser right down the middle as its rotten wood and missing drawers made it weak. Red X then stomped towards stack of aluminum drum barrels. He kicked the bottom dumb off and the rest tumbled down naturally. A whole bunch of drum barrels littred the floor.
"Benedict!" he exclaimed again. "He was your friend!"
He kicked a fallen barrel into the air. It crashed down onto another pile of debris a good distance away.
"He trusted you!" he exclaimed as he kicked another barrel up into the air which crashed right on top of what remained of an old wrecked car. "I trusted you!"
He grabbed the last barrel and threw it into the air with a grunt. It flew farther than any of the other stuff and splashed right into the bay waters. It was only then that he started to calm down.
His breathing finally slowed and his shoulders stopped heaving with it. He let his arms drop and relax. His stance got weaker, his legs no longer that rigid. Still he stood straight, out of a sense pride if nothing else. He stood there for a long time silent, his caped draped over his body. All was quiet once again.
"Bob…" he said in the softest voice, "…I swear… I'll have your head…"
A second later, Red X vanished.
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Somewhere else along the city's landscape.
Batgirl was again patrolling the rooftops for signs of the rather conspicuous character that is the Red X. So far, nothing. But if this was important then one couldn't really expect it to be easy. Still, she wouldn't mind a break once and a while. In this line of business, breaks are hard to come by. Needless to say, she was getting awfully frustrated by all this.
While swinging away on her fruitless search, she noticed something odd. She was surveying the rooftops when a particular penthouse suit caught her eye. She noticed that the furniture on the balcony was a mess, the door leading out onto the balcony was broken with glass everywhere, and part of the railing was broken. Heroic instincts took over and she redirected herself in the middle of her swing.
She landed gracefully amongst the mess on the balcony. Looking up, she noticed that there was quite a mess inside the suite itself. There was shattered furniture everywhere. A table was on its side, there were some chairs tipped over, broken bottles and spilled drinks stained the carpeted floor, an x-shaped thing on the ground…
Batgirls went wide-eyed. She immediately rushed over to the thing and kneeled down to look at it. There was no doubt in her mind what that meant.
"Looks like he had quite a party here," she said. "But with who?"
She pocketed away the small projectile in her utility belt and had a look around. She rummaged through drawers and under the bed. She searched in the closet and in the cabinets and, thankfully, she actually found something: a laptop computer that didn't look like it belonged to the hotel. Thing were finally looking up that night.
She set it down and turned it on. There was a password required. She shrugged. Nothing too difficult to break. Within minutes she hacked into the computer's files easily. She began browsing and started finding out a few things. Through only a few files she already knew that this laptop belonged to Falcone who was also most likely renting this suite.
But where was Falcone now? The million dollar question she didn't have the answer to at that moment.
She continued to browse more. She found a calendar program which seemed to contain a schedule. Through there she found out that Falcone had moved out of this suite and into another location. The calendar program didn't say which location particularly, but Batgirl was confident she would find it here somewhere.
She also found out that the only person who was supposed to be here tonight was Falcone's personal assistant, Bruno. Surely there was no-one here now except herself so Batgirl wondered where he was and what exactly happened here. She was quite sure Red X was involved somehow.
She continued browsing for the heck of it. She looked back onto perevious dates not really looking for anything in particular, just something in general. But she was already confident that she got all the information she wanted for tonght. But then she saw something.
"Wait…" she mumbled as she looked at the screen. "… This is…"
There was particular entry that caught her eye. An entry that indicated a meeting someone with a name. A name she recognized. She held her breath for a moment. Batgirl, in her accumulated experience, should've been used to surprises like this. But this one caught her truly off-guard.
To confirm he suspicions, she continued browsing the computer for files. An e-mail program was really helpful when she found it. There were many files and she browsed through them quickly. She found one that confirmed her suspicions. It scared her somewhat.
Sender: "Bob"
RE: Loose ends.
Patrolman in uptown taken care of. All evidence pointing to operations have been purged. Don't worry about Davenport. We'll take care of him soon enough. Also, new location for new base of operations has been secured.
It was all she needed to confirm her suspicions. Her eyes narrowed and her teeth gritted. It was a dirty cop responsible for all those deaths. A dirty cop, the lowest of the low, in her opinion. Being who she was, the one thing Batgirl hated the most in this world was a dirty cop.
She heard a ding that indicated that the elevator was heading her way. She figured it must be some authorities coming to investigate. She closed the laptop and made her way out the way she came in. She leapt off the balcony with laptop at one hand and a grappling hook on the other.
No-one ever knew she was there.
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Author's note: Things are getting messy now, huh?. As usual, pls. R&R. tune in next time where there will be more action and even more lousy grammar!
