Robin couldn't believe how much his luck had died in the past few hours. He'd risked his life an uncountable of times, had made the ultimate mistake of drugging Raven, and now, just when he had almost managed to work his way to Pride, Red had drawn a handgun. Red, who Robin thought would be the least likely one to betray their group at the risk of harming Raven, was now standing between their group and the door. After seeing Red take down Wrath and spending enough time with him to understand his half-psychotic attitude, Robin had no doubt Red would use the weapon he now pointed at Robin's head.
"Red, put the gun down," Robin ordered. He had been trained to negotiate hostage situations before, but never considered he'd be trying to talk a version of himself out of killing the real Robin so they could stop a third Robin from destroying the mind of Robin, which all the Robins resided in. It hurt even trying to comprehend it. "If you fire that handgun, you might hurt Raven by accident. You swore you wouldn't hurt Raven, remember?"
It was a desperate gamble. Red was clearly, undoubtedly insane. The only way to counter a crazed convict was to use his own ideals against them. There were only two factors of Red's personality that Robin was absolutely positive about: Red was incredibly dangerous, but he'd never harm Raven intentionally.
Red's face remained expressionless. Keeping the gun trained on Robin, his eyes narrowed slightly. "That doesn't matter," Red responded, his voice absolutely neutral. He clutched his handgun like a boy would hold a paintball gun; on the line between not caring and dead serious. "It doesn't matter which one of you cross the line. You'll be shot. No exceptions."
Robin and Raven stood stunned for a moment. If there was one thing that they could count on, it was Red's almost obsessive attraction to Raven. If that was removed, there might not be anything left of Red besides his skill with a gun. A very lethal zombie.
Suddenly, the hallway echoed with a light laugh. The sound was so utterly out of place among the corpses and betrayal in the hall that everyone, including Red, turned their gaze to see who was insane enough to be giggling. Red-X stood behind Robin and Raven, chuckling. The laughter was obviously forced, but Red-X was playing it up like the situation was hilarious. Red-X clutched his stomach as he roared with fake laughter, almost doubling over. Robin and Raven exchanged a bewildered look. Was Red-X cracking under the pressure? The last thing they needed was another lunatic on their hands.
"Oh, man. Red, I have to give you credit. You're a lot funnier than I thought," Red-X managed through fits of laughter.
Red stared at him, a slight look of annoyance crossing his face. "Am I being funny?"
Red-X straightened up, still clutching his stomach. "Great job, Red. I almost thought you were serious."
Red began to walk forward, picking his way through the piles of corpses towards Red. Robin would have continued staring at Red with bewilderment if not for Raven.
Raven immediately stepped between Red-X and Red, stopping Red-X from advancing any further. "X, whatever you think this is, some sort of charade or game, you might want to take another look," Raven hissed. "Red is serious. If you take another step, he is going to-"
Raven was interrupted when Red-X burst into laughter once again, pantomiming wiping a tear from his masked face. He doubled over, almost falling to his knees. Red-X was now completely out of Red's view, concealed by Raven's robe. As soon as he ducked out of sight, Red-X immediately stopped the jester routine, but continued his forced laughter. He looked up at Robin and Raven and started gesturing at Raven's handgun and his own Xenothium belt, trying to communicate some kind of message. It took Robin a moment before realizing what Red-X was trying to say, and almost slapped himself for not thinking of it earlier. While Robin and Raven had been standing around like idiots after Red's betrayal, Red-X had actually been formulating a plan. Red may be one of the best fighters in the room, but only Red-X had mastered teleportation. Red's jury-rigged Xenothium belt couldn't compare to the original. If Red-X had Raven's gun, he might be able to stall Red long enough to give Robin and Raven a chance to slip through the door and catch Pride. Robin and Raven quickly glanced at each other, both realizing Red-X's plan at the same time. Robin nodded as imperceptibly as he could.
Raven sighed dramatically, stepping away from Red-X, who now resumed his laughter routine. "Okay, fine," Raven announced, perfectly faking annoyance as she loosened her grip on the handgun. "If you want to get yourself killed, go ahead. Talking sense into you would be a waste of breath."
Red-X straightened up, still clutching his stomach. Robin could see his gloved fingers poised over the activation button for the Xenothium belt. Without meaning to, Robin thought back to all the times the Xenothium belt had malfunctioned or simply refused to activate, whether it be in practice or in actual combat. If the belt crashed now, Robin might as well give up on any chance of winning the lottery. With this kind of bad luck, he'd get the scratch ticket that actually charged you money. Behind his back, Robin crossed his fingers for good luck. C'mon, please, Robin prayed silently. If I'm going to have any luck on this adventure, please let it be now.
"You know, Red," Red-X chuckled, sidestepping a few inches closer to Raven as discreetly as he could, "there's one thing you forgot."
Red arched an eyebrow, almost as if he was amused. His grip on his handgun never wavered. "Did I?"
"Robin may be against killing, and Raven may share that idiotic idea," Red-X continued, his laughter dying. "But here, the rules are different. We kill each other. Hell, we slaughter each other daily. We're murderers, thieves and cheats."
Robin could tell Red-X was grinning underneath his mask. "And I," Red-X hissed, his amusement gone, "am no exception."
In the blink of an eye, Red-X snatched the handgun from Raven's hand and jammed his hand down on his Xenothium belt. Red-X immediately vanished, cocking the gun as he did.
Red didn't bother wasting a shot. He simply tucked his handgun underneath his arm, so the barrel now pointed behind him, towards the door. His expression absolutely neutral, Red pulled the trigger of the gun twice, shattering the silence of the hallway with two ear-shattering blasts. Just as the bullets exited the barrel, Red-X fizzled back into existence behind Red, holding his handgun up to Red's head. The bullets that had left Red's gun never seemed to have pierced Red-X's skin.
The hallway was silent. The events following Red-X's disappearance had occurred so quickly Robin wasn't immediately sure what had happened. Red-X continued to press the gun against the back of Red's head, his hand shaking. Then Red-X spasmed once, with a hacking cough that splattered the inside of his mask with blood, dying the skull a deep scarlet. Red-X fell to his knees, Raven's handgun clattering to the floor.
Robin felt like he had been smacked with a shovel as he realized what had happened. Red had seen right through them, noticing Red-X's plan probably before either Robin or Raven had. He had fired the gun backwards at the perfect time, shooting the two bullets directly into the zone where Red-X was appearing. Simply by becoming solid, Red-X had sealed two bullets into his own chest. They had underestimated Red, and now had to pay the price.
Red turned around slowly, almost leisurely. "You forgot one fact too, X," he replied casually, as if he was simply pointing out a mistake Red-X had made on a science test. "I am also a murderer. Just a better one." Red crouched down in front of Red-X and pressed the barrel of his gun against his forehead. "Consider our debt paid."
Red fired a single shot into Red-X's forehead, who toppled backwards onto one of the dead Watchmen, joining the corpses. Robin immediately felt a surge of pain, adrenaline and absolute fury. Raven must have seen the look in Robin's eye before Robin even considered his next move.
"Robin, don't be-" Raven cautioned, but Robin cut her off with a howl of rage and threw himself at Red, whipping out his staff. Robin swung his staff at the crouched Red, with enough force to break a man's skull. To Robin's own surprise, the blow connected. Red toppled on top of Red-X and lay still. Raven, obviously smarter than Robin, immediately bent down to grab a weapon from one of the fallen Watchmen. Robin, on the other hand, bent down over Red to relieve him of his weapon.
Big mistake.
Red rolled over immediately, holding both his own handgun and Raven's handgun, which he had ripped from Red-X's grip. A small pool of blood amassed on Red's forehead, who wore an expression of absolute rage, He fired a volley of shots at Robin, who immediately threw his cape over himself as a shield against the worst of the blows. The sheer force of impact from the bullets threw Robin backwards, causing him to stumble backwards over the dead Watchmen. Out of the corner of his eye, Robin spotted Raven clutching a handful of scavenged sonic disks, blasting them with the few sparks of magic she had.
"Watch your head!" Raven shouted, throwing the half dozen or so disks over Robin's head like a baseball. Robin immediately hit the ground, expecting the poorly thrown disks to crash down onto his head. Instead, the disks immediately righted themselves, still crackling with black energy, and flew at Red like a swarm of bees. Red leapt to his feet and immediately backflipped over the sonic disks, allowing them to soar under him. To both Robin's and Red's surprise, the disks sparked with energy once more, then veered off course, skidding off the walls and floors, and resuming their hunt for Red.
Heat-seeking explosives, Robin thought, shaking his head with amused bewilderment. I've got to figure out how to do that.
Red snarled at Raven, bouncing off the walls of the hallway in a fruitless attempt to lose the sonic disks. He fired backwards occasionally, blasting a few sonic disks to scraps before resuming his erratic maneuvers. Robin pulled out any available bird-a-rangs and sonic disks in his utility belt and threw clusters of them at Red as an improvised aerial minefield. None were particularly successful, but Red was clearly tiring. His evasive maneuvers were growing slower and riskier, nearly fatal each time. Unfortunately, only a few sonic disks were still in pursuit of Red; the rest were either blown to smithereens by Red's ammo or had turned too late and smashed into a wall. Only two or three were still after him.
Robin turned to Raven, still unleashing as many bird-a-rangs as he could. "We need more sonic disks! Red's slowing down!"
Raven glared at Robin, her eyes slightly sunken into her skull and her skin tight against the bone. Magic withdrawal wasn't exactly great for appearances. "How about you summon dark energy from your mind," Raven hissed, enchanting a few more disks, "and I'll make the stupid moves you're oh so charitably donating!"
"Now kids," Red laughed, flipping to the ground between Robin and Raven, "I sure do hope us 'Three Musketeers' aren't having our first argument! Robin, you should know better than to mess with the magical chick. That's my job."
As he spoke, Red leaned backwards and blasted each of the remaining disks as they soared over his head. Upon straightening up, Red opened his mouth, as if he was considering making another snide remark. Then he flinched, like he had been whacked in the back of the head, and quickly shut his mouth. Instead, he simply flipped his middle finger at Robin before lifting his handgun and taking aim at the Boy Wonder's forehead. Robin immediately threw his cape over himself, hoping to shield himself once more. With his cape in its tattered condition, though, Robin doubted it could withstand a light rain, let alone a volley of bullets.
Red, however, had other plans. He didn't pull the trigger immediately. Instead, he glanced over his shoulder at Raven and gave her a sideways grin. It was almost like he was saying, hey, after I murder your friend and rip apart the fabric of this dimension, you wanna grab something to eat?
Raven growled at Red, throwing her arsenal of sonic disks at Red's back. At this range, not even Red could sidestep or flip over the explosives in time. As soon as the sonic disks left Raven's hand, however, Red's image flickered for a moment, then disappeared. The sonic disks cut right through the spot where he had been standing a fraction of a second before, whirling forward with deadly accuracy.
Raven's eyes widened. "Robin, look out!"
Too late. The sonics had already locked onto their new target: the battered and bloody Robin. The sonic disks detonated upon impact, blasting Robin backwards into the hallway wall. The back of Robin's head smacked against an exposed pipe. For a few moments, the world spun. Robin fell onto all fours, feeling like he was about to vomit. When he finally regained enough strength to look up, Robin was greeted with a terrifying sight. Red stood directly behind Raven, pressing the barrel of one of his handguns into the back of her head. His other hand adjusted his jury-rigged Xenothium belt, which was still steaming from its recent use.
"Game over, kid," Red announced, pressing the handgun against the back of Raven's head, who was doing her best to send a look of loathing at Red without turning her head. "I win. You lose. If you try anything, this bullet's going straight through the lady's head. I don't think you want that on your conscience."
Robin's vision seemed to tint red. He wasn't sure if it was from exhaustion, internal bleeding, or simply anger. The worst part of the anger was he wasn't sure who he was angry at. Red, for betraying their trust and trying to hold Raven hostage? Pride, for starting the whole mess in the first place? Raven, for getting mixed up in the chaos of Robin's mind? Himself, for letting all this happen?
Something snapped inside of Robin. "Go ahead," he muttered, his voice raspy and barely audible.
Red turned his ear towards Robin, putting his hand next to it as an exaggerated hearing aid. "Sorry, man. I didn't quite catch that."
"I said go ahead," Robin spat, struggling to his feet. "Shoot her. Put a bullet through her head. See where that gets you."
After holding back it all, Robin allowed all the emotions he had been subjected to these past few hours to spill across his face. Exhaustion, loss, hatred, and the irrational, overpowering anger. The anger flooded every pore of his body, enveloping his every thought. Red looked at him, stunned. "But… but didn't you… weren't you dedicated to protecting her?"
Robin avoided Raven's eyes. He continued to glare directly into Red's mask, projecting all of his hatred towards the near-identical boy with the gun. "So were you. You swore to protect her, but you're the one holding the gun. That's all you are, Red. The boy with the gun. Right now, that's all that matters. If I surrender, if Raven fights back, if I attack you with all the goddamn strength I can muster, you're the one holding the gun. Whatever happens now is in your hands. You're the boy with the gun."
Red looked at Robin for a moment. Then he looked down at the handgun he pressed against Raven's head. His hand was shaking. For the first time, Red looked absolutely terrified. At once Robin realized his mistake. Red may be the puppet, but he wasn't the one pulling the strings. Right now, Pride chose whether or not Red pulled the trigger. Raven's fate was to be deemed by a total psychopath.
"I'm sorry," Red whispered, a tear leaking out from under his mask and running down his cheek. "I truly am."
Red pulled the trigger.
(Note: I don't own Teen Titans) Now for the apologies: I'm sorry for the long wait, the short chapter, and, of course, another cliffhanger (actually, I'm not sorry about that last one. Mua ha ha). Thanks to everyone reading this. I hope you enjoy.