Disclaimer: I do my best to avoid copyright infringes.

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Still on the mall's roof.

"What did you mean by that?" asked Red X, pressing the blades to Perudo's neck.

"You were' just lucky…or maybe unlucky, who's to judge?" Perudo answered with a giggle.

"You're not making any sense."

"How much sense do you want me to make?"

Red X was quickly loosing his patience. The only thing stopping him from possibly maiming the guy was the knowledge that he needed answers in a desperate way. Things have changed now. They have changed in a big way. Too many people were now being put at risk by that creature that was out to get him.

One of those people happened to be close to him.

At the beginning of all this it was just him. Always just him. The Red X was a loner. Always. He never had to worry about watching someone's back. And even if it was him underneath the black material of the suit, Nick Davenport was also separated from the Red X in a way. Nick had his own life and the Red X had its own existence that Nick chose to indulge himself in every so often. Nick never had to worry about their two separate existences to blur together. It was never supposed to go any further than that.

But this creature has changed things. To that creature, Nick and Red X were no different from each other. The line that distinguished the two was now nonexistent. For Nick this meant that those close to him were now also in danger. He couldn't afford that.

"Cut the crap, you!" said Red X. "Tell me what I want to know."

"Why the Kapre is after you?"

"Yes!"

"As I already told, there is no reason."

"Do you expect me do believe that?"

Now it seemed even Perudo was getting a bit annoyed himself. His grin was getting smaller. It seemed that Red X just wasn't getting it in his head yet.

"Ask yourself this: Who are you anyway?" said Perudo, catching Red X off-guard. "Who are you? Are you someone who I need to know about? Someone important or related to someone important? Did you do something like invent a cure for cancer or something? If you did, I'd love to know because I, sure as hell, don't know a damn thing about you. I don't even know you're face."

Red X was taken aback. He noticeable relived some of the pressure from his x-blades. The question repeated in his head. Who was he? Well, he thought to himself, actually, he was nobody. There was nothing special about him or his family. Just some high school student with an A average. He was no more special than that. He would be just another face in the crowed if it weren't for the suit…

That's when it hit him. The suit. How did he get it again? It was just given to him at that warehouse back when he met this guy for the first time. Was he supposed to be at that warehouse? No. Was he supposed to witness that meeting? No. Was he supposed to get the suit? No. Was he even supposed to keep the suit? Heck no.

He remembered it, back to that day at the warehouse. After making sure the gangsters were not going anywhere he called the cops anonymously to tell them about the scene. Then, he went home with the suit in his hands. For about two weeks it sat under his bed collecting dust. He told no one else about it. As he went about his normal routines the suit remained in the back of his mind, a persistent thought gnawing at his consciousness. Eventually, during an annual policeman's ball which his mom and dad were obliged to attend thereby leaving him alone at home, curiosity got the better of him.

He wanted to know about it, wanted to try it out for himself, like a ten-year-old kid who simply couldn't wait to play with a new toy. The urge was overwhelming. So that one fateful night he put on the suit and he never looked back ever since.

The answer was clear to him by then. It was all just plain and simple, blind, dumb luck.

"Now do you understand?" said Perudo. "There was never a reason for the Kapre's target to be you. It was you who sealed your fate when you decided to keep the suit for yourself."

Red X's hands went limp. Perudo's grin grew again. "I'm sure you've been having fun with it for a while. But now, you're gonna have to pay up on all those wonderful freedoms you've enjoyed with that suit."

With Red X's guard down for the moment, Perudo found it to be the best opportunity to kick the master thief off of him with his feet. Red X didn't see it coming and fell on his back on the gravel. Perudo quickly got up to his own feet and back-flipped all the way to one edge of the roof. Red x was soon standing again and in a ready stance in case Perudo decided to start the fight again. But it soon became clear that Perudo had lost interest in fighting for the night.

"Well, it's been a blast, dude," said Perudo. "But I'm afraid I have to go before my curfew is up…And I'm afraid I've got no ore answers to your questions tonight."

Red X lowered his guard. Perudo stood tall and gave Red X a farewell salute. "See ya around!"

With that, Perudo jumped off the edge and disappeared into the night.

Red X relaxed himself completely and stood in the middle of the roof alone. After a few seconds of silence, his he reached his hand up to his head to press some hidden buttons just behind his right ear. He was making sure that the miniature transmitter he managed to stick onto Perudo's clothes during the fight was working. It was.

"Sooner than you think," said Red X before he too disappeared into the night.

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At the JCPD Headquarters.

They say crime never sleeps. Ergo, neither does law enforcement. The night shift was about to start and day workers started clocking out just as night shift guys were clocking in. The lobby was busy as always filled with petty criminals arrested moments ago and the usual bunch of citizens with one form of complain or another. Business as usual as far as anyone was concern.

However, up on the third floor, in Commissioner William Bartlett's office, things were not business as usual. He was seated behind his desk smoking a cigar. In front of his desk stood Lieutenant Han Park and Lieutenant Jill Kavanagh, still in their flight suits.

"Okay, run this by me again," said Bartlett with a more than obvious annoyance to his tone.

Han sighed. "As we have already said sir, we observed that a citizen was in danger and we made a decision to act accordingly."

"This citizen was, again, being attacked by…and I'm quoting you, Lieutenant , a seven foot lizard-like beast."

"That is correct sir."

Bartlett was silent. He took the cigar out of his mouth and pressed it down on the ashtray on his desk. He then rubbed his forehead with one hand as he let out a frustrated sigh. It was gonna be one of those nights.

"Sir, I don't understand what the problem is," spoke up Jill. "The fact of the matter is, sir, we acted accordingly to save the life of a civilian. Would you have us do otherwise?"

Han's eyes turned towards Jill in surprise. Speaking up to the commissioner like that? The girl had guts. Too much as would be the case from time to time. Jill had the unfortunate knack of speaking up to her superiors whenever they questioned some of her actions. Most of the time, Jill had proper grounds to justify her actions, but she tended to come off as antagonistic giving others a bad impression of her.

For Bartlett, this was no longer surprising. He was used to this by now as Jill was ent to his office many times in the past. He was no stranger to the occasional rebellious officer. He didn't particularly mind the attitude much as long as the officer in question did their job properly.

"Of course not, Lieutenant Kavanagh," replied Bartlett. "But you have to understand that you fired over five hundred rounds of armor-piercing ammunition at a public mall of all places. I know that in a situation like that you, as officers of the law, would do what you can to save lives. My problem is now we don't have proof of this creature's existence."

Han spoke up again. "But sir, we have dozens of eyewitness testimonies from people at the scene, both at the mall and on the street. Plus, you saw for yourself the damage to our craft."

"all of this is just circumstantial evidence. My worry now is what will the Garland people do now. We've gotten into trouble with them before, you know."

Jill's eyes narrowed. "What would you have preferred, sir? That we call the Titans?"

Han whipped his head towards her. There she goes again. It sounded like it was an improper joke but Jill meant it more as a challenge to the commissioner. And it seemed to have struck home. The commissioner knew what she was going about.

The relationship of the Teen Titans and the JCPD was nothing short of a very close friendship. Each side appreciated the assistance of the other. However this didn't mean that the JCPD called on the Titans regularly in bad situations. Quite the opposite, the JCPD almost never calls on the Titans and they do so only on very rare special and extreme conditions.

It was like an unwritten rule for officers that everyone respected. Many people have often questioned this but they were simply not looking at the reality of it. Despite being heroes, having superpowers and the ability to nail almost every kind of villain from the record, the Titans are, always have, and always will be, officially civilians, private citizen whom the police had no right to command or order around.

This is not to say that the JCPD doesn't appreciate the Titan's work. However, one must note that stopping criminals, upholding the law, serving and protecting citizens, were the jobs of police officers. If a crime happens a police officer's duty is to go there himself and do his best to take care of the situation by himself. That was his duty.

Han wanted to change the subject. "Incidentally sir…"

"Yes, Lieutenant Park?" said Bartlett diverting his attention to Han.

I have good reason to believe that this creature is the same one responsible for the incident at the docks last night. The same incident that involved Lieutenant Derek Kavanagh."

Now it was Jill's turn to act surprised. She whipped her head around at the mention of her brother's name. Bartlett raised an inquisitive eyebrow himself.

"You sure about this?" asked Bartlett.

"Very."

Bartlett was silent for a few seconds. He reached into his pocket and pulled out another cigar. He cut the tips put one end in his mouth, and lit the other end with a silver lighter. Bartlett sat back with a exasperated grunt. He could already tell were Han was going with this information.

"If that's the case…" said Bartlett.

"It wakes the creature an official case for the JCPD," declared Han. "Because of this fact sir I--"

"Propose to open a formal investigation?"

"…Yes, sir."

Well, it's certainly an option. But with the way things are now…If this thing is really the same thing that caused that little ruckus at the docks then we will have no choice but to open an investigation. We owe Derek that much. I'll get someone on it as soon as I can."

"Sir--"

"And of course you two will participate. You and Jill are the only cops right now who are ale to describe this thing, not to mention seen it in action. Of course when the investigation gets underway you'll be able to see it through. Does that suit you, Lieutenant?"

"…Yes sir."

"Alright then. You two are dismissed."

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Later in the JCPD Headquarters halls.

"Han, wait up!" called Jill.

Han stopped on the way to the locker room and turned around to face Jill with an almost blank face. Jill stopped right in front of Han with an expression that demanded something out of the pilot. Han let out an exasperated sigh and spoke towards Jill's unsaid question.

"I wanted to tell you as soon as I saw the thing," said Han. "However, as I'm sure you were aware of, we were a little busy at the time."

"I just need to know," said Jill. "What you told the commish…That thing was…"

"The same creature that put your brother in the hospital."

"Are you sure?"

"You don't forget those eyes, Jill."

There was silence between the two of them. Jill dropped her head in thought. Around them, several other officers went about their business never giving Han and Jill as second look. Jill finally looked back up towards Han.

"Alright," she said. "Now I can set my sights to something."

"Jill, Commissioner Bartlett already said that he'll open a formal investigation with us in it."

"Yeah I know and I'm fine with that. But know that If I ever see this thing again, If I ever get the chance to face up to it again, I don't care what anyone, including the commish, says. If I see a chance…any chance at all…I owe that thing for what he did to my brother."

"Jill, that's suicide!"

"I will get that thing, Han. Either help me or get out of my way."

With that Jill walked past Han. Han was left standing there in the middle of the hall with his worries. He had known Jill for a good long time now. She was one of his beast friends and so was her brother, Derek. He would do anything for them. But the way Jill was acting now was worrying him. She was starting to become more and more obsessed with the thought of getting back at that creature.

Something much easier said than done.

Han just remembered he has forgotten to tell her that the creature has changed from the last time he saw it. It was bigger now, meaner too and with the arsenal to back up its temper. They threw over five-hundred rounds of armor-piercing rounds at it and it got back up for more. And their chopper. What was that thing made of?

Han knew he couldn't stop her now. Even though he knew she didn't have a chance in hell on taking on that creature alone, he couldn't stop her from wanting revenge. But he also knew she wasn't stupid. No way she would gall head-first towards this thing, she's much smarter than that. She did mention a while ago that she will only wait for a chance but that posed a whole new problem on its own.

Will she get a chance? How will she know it when she sees it? How will any of them know a chance when they see it? Is there any chance at all? What if none of them could actually stop this thing? What then?

Han was getting increasingly frustrated with his thoughts. He rubbed his forehead with his hand as he groaned out loud.

"They never teach you how to deal with this kind of stuff at the academy," he grumbled to himself.

"Park!" called out a familiar voice.

Han looked up to see Commissioner Bartlett walking up to him.

"Where's Kavanagh?"

"You just missed her, sir. She's gone home already. Is there a problem?"

"Nothing really…It's just that when you mentioned her brother…"

Bartlett hesitated for a second but Han knew where he was going with this. Bartlett was known for many things; among them was his almost father-like attitude towards all his cohorts. This became even more evident ever since the death of two officers, a detective and a patrolman, during a mob case some number of months back.

"Park, you know that you two are valuable on this investigation once it's under way," said Bartlett. "I need both of you in top form. I don't want Kavanagh doing anything rash."

"I understand you sir, but you should know that Jill is no idiot. She won't do anything stupid."

"I still want you to keep an eye on her."

"Always do, sir."

"Good man."

Bartlett nodded, patted Han on the shoulder, then he walked back to his office. Han stayed where he was for some time before deciding to call it a day himself and head home. So that's what he did. He went for a quick stop at his locker to change into his civilian clothes and stash his flight-suit. After that he went down into the parking lot and got into his car, a red Mitsubishi Lan Evo VIII. Something he bought in response to Derek's Subaru Impreza.

On the drive home he remembered what Bartlett said to him. He told him to keep an eye on her. Han knew the Commissioner didn't need to ask.

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Somewhere in the sewers.

It was hurt, but nothing for it to worry about. It's wounds would heal over time (and in its case it was a relatively short time) and soon it would be ready again to go out and hunt for its ever elusive prey.

It waded across the flowing stream of sewage for hours looking for a place to stop. Traveling in the pitch black sewers was no problem for the creature but it hadn't been in the sewers before so it was only natural that it got lost for a bit the first time around. It didn't know that it was somewhere under the west district by the time id decided it found a nice place to rest for it knew that in a only a few hours the sun would rise.

That meant that there was no point in continuing the hunt now.

It stumbled onto a junction in the sewage system where incoming flow was diverted into half-a-dozen routes across the city. There it found a small niche to fit its size It waded across the pool of sewage and got up onto the walkways where service workers would normally walk on if they needed to do work. It slowly walked towards its desired niche in the wall.

When it got there it turned out to be an old closet built into the wall with the door missing. It saw a few bits of old tools which it didn't recognize. With its large hands, the creature cleared the broken and dilapidated tools out of the closet and tossed them into the sewer water to be taken away by the flow.

When it did this it discovered a large rat that was making its home under the remains of what was once a shovelhead. The rat looked up at the gigantic reptilian creature tat had invaded its home. Fear struck the rodent and it immediately scurried away out of the closet. The rat didn't get far though.

In one swift movement, the creature's tail stabbed its sharp tip down onto the rat's body impaling it completely. The creature brought up the rat to its face and examined the rodent. The rat struggled in vain with what little life it had left. That's right, the creature thought, squirm. Get those muscles warm and that blood sweetened. Finally, just when the rat was about to stop struggling, the creature chomped don't on the creature.

The meal was small but after a bad night it was something worth savoring. When the creature was done with its light snack it climbed into the closet and sniggled at the very back of the small space. Day is coming, it knew that much. But it didn't fret. Tomorrow was another night, another chance to go after its ultimate prey which it you would provide a most delicious feast. With thoughts like this in its head, the creature soon relaxed.

Around the creature, not a sound was heard. The world of darkness it surrounded it self with was still. As if time had stopped along with the creature. Nobody knew it was there. Nobody will ever know it was ever there.

And it was there, away from the light day, the Kapre slept.

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Author's note: Things are getting more interesting now. I don't have much to say about this chap. Hope you guys still like everything so far. Pls, R&R.