Chapter Twenty-Four:

"Dude, it's about time. How are you feeling?" Fuse asked eagerly from the video phone. Allen fidgeted in his seat, being the only one in the rec room since the others had left on some little crime-stop. It wasn't anything big, and he had felt a little honored to be trusted enough to be left alone. Still, all he was doing was sitting at the tiny computer at the far end of the room; trying to catch up with his friends.

"Fine." He said in a tone that stated he didn't want to talk about it.

"Well, we we're getting worried. Took bets that you we're dead."

Allen lifted his brow; almost taking a joking offense at that. Before blinking and cocking a glance towards his blond friend. "I never knew Bruce to be the betting type."

"Oh not him." Fuse rolled his eyes. "Guess what-"

"Oh my god is that Allen?!" The familiar screaming like voice cried.

"What-" Fuse looked to the side before he cried out and was pushed to the side as Vix roughly made her way into the full screen. Her bright brown eyes shown, her curly, almost 80's style copper colored hair was poofed around her head almost like a lion's mane. It made it hard to notice the small fox ears sticking out from either side of her head. The results of her odder features where nasty compliments of a failed shape-shifting experiment she had been subjected too; her body had stopped midway, and she had never figured out how to change back so dealt with being stuck between shapes. Her slightly pointed nose, carved teeth, and dark pupils went along with her almost gold-ish tinted skin.

"Dude! It's been forever, you won't believe that Matt tried to bet on if you were dead or not, I took it though so I guess that kind of makes me a hypocrite, but now he owes me ten bucks so I guess I should like thank you or something." She twitted quickly. It had almost been hard to understand her, Vix's rusty, slightly muffled natural voice and her quick tongue made it difficult. But Allen had known her practically their whole life.

He decided to try and ignore his two best friends had taken a bet over his life, because wasn't that just the most compassionate thing ever? Allen just felt like… so loved now. He shook his head, black locks swishing around his head as he sighed to himself. "When did you get to the mansion?"

"Oh, yesterday, or actually it was last night. Hard to hide the tail sometimes you know?" Vix laughed, the bushy gold brown fox tail swishing behind her.

"Where've you been then?"

"Eh, just around you know? Haven't really gotten any 'training' but whatever. I came to visit and like you weren't here and Fuse was all 'I think he's dead' and I was like 'whatever you're stupid' and-"

"I get it." Allen sighed, lowering his eyes in a flat look.

Vix continued eagerly. "You won't believe what happened the other day though."

"Oh shut up," Fuse hissed from the side, but his friend pushed him back out of view with the flat of her palm.

"Matt totally got in trouble. You should've been there, Allen! I mean oh my God it was hilarious. He got kicked out of the bat cave!"

Allen tilted his brow up. "How do you get kicked out of a base your training in?"

"By touching things with red levers," Vix giggled, only it came out more doggish, ruff but still noticeably showing her intoned amusement at the situation. Allen lifted his pale lips into a smile, he couldn't help it; something about Matt pulling a red lever in the Bat Cave just struck him as funny. All well… he wasn't dead so he wasn't worried.

For a moment Allen's eyes switched to the book that was laying on the desk not far from him. The leather covering was closed, the words from his eyes; but he knew where his next page was. He would be reading from page 140, and continuing. Yeah… it wasn't that far in, but the words confused him sometimes, and he found himself having to backtrack his reading often. Still; the book was enchanting to him, though he decided it was … creepy, and seemed to be some old (and probably expired, as so he thought) guide book to some old occult. Maybe it was a history lesson, he didn't know, but its rules and rituals for ever day life was enthralling to his mind anyways. Whoever the people where that wrote it; took their 'necromancy' (whatever that was) seriously, twining it's rules into their everyday life… almost like monks or something. Weird.

"Hey, Al, guess what!" Fuse piped. Allen blinked, returning his pale glance back to the computer screen before his face flattened.

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever. That dude was here yesterday again."

"Oh God, what did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything," Fuse lowered his look into an annoyed one. He pushed his lips out for a moment as he looked around the room, his eyes then returning to Allen as Fix wiggled impatiently; her tail swishing behind her. "I went up to say 'hi' and he acted like I was the plague or something-"

"Well…"

"-and he was all 'sorry I gotta go' and I was all 'hey what's your name?' and he was all 'go away' and I was like 'no' and then guess what?!"

Allen gave his blond friend a curious look. "What?"

"Bruce told me to leave him alone." Fuse snorted with annoyance, blowing his breath upwards and pulsing his shaggy locks out of his face for a moment, before they frizzed around his head. "But yeah anyways, that guy was back so I thought I'd let you know."

"Can't you just leave the poor guy alone?" Allen asked, shaking his head. "He's probably just talking about business. Stop getting in trouble."

"First; trouble gets into me, not the other way around." Fuse held up his pointer finger at the comment, his face then losing its serious demeanor as he lowered his hand. "And second; the dude was in jeans and a T-shirt… not very businesslike." Fuse looked around again, rubbing his palms together. "I think I'm gonna go like Sherlock Holmes on him or something, 'cause he is weird."

"Like you're not." Allen muttered with a roll of his eyes.

Vix blinked, opening with a wide and toothy grin on her face as she slanted her eyes towards Fuse. "More like Nancy Drew, Goldie locks." She sneered playfully.

"Ouch," Fuse hissed. "Double diss."

"Play nice," Allen reminded dully, lowering his eyes at them. "Because I'm going to go back to reading." Both teens looked back to him from the screen, they frowned at first before cheering up and giving him their goodbyes and the screens where shut off. The Titan's weren't back yet, so Allen shrugged his shoulders and picked the book back up with both hands, and left the computer desk for the rec room couch; sitting himself back down and cracking the pages back to his next beginning point.

--

--

Terra finally sunk down against a tree, putting her arms around her knee's as she buried her face in them. She was a wreck. Plain and simple, though she hated to admit it to herself; the dragging in her, the sudden loss of will that was putting the brakes on all her motion. She didn't even know where she was going anymore… she wanted to spat to herself 'does it even matter?' but it did matter, the only thing was she didn't know what mattered the most.

Where was she supposed to go? Yeah, she asked herself this question a lot in the past. But this time she had options she could abide too… somehow those only made things harder. She could run back to the Titan's for refuge, but both a guilt and pride was keeping her from that direction. Terra could scope Slade out… but that too, was too far away from her conscience heart for her to consider long. Both options were like the extremes of her decision choices… and now she wished even harder that she had again her middle place to pick instead… but Red X hadn't come back this time, and now as she sighed deeply and hung her shoulders low, she felt herself confused, and partially lost. Abandoned would've been a better description… because that was what had happened to her.

Terra tilted her head to the side, pushing her face away as her brows lowered over her face, and her lips quaked, she shouldn't think about that.

"Well genius, now what?" She muttered half heatedly. Terra sighed deeply, her shoulders sagging as her eyes looked around the lonely clearing. She wasn't too far outside some small city. Not sure what it was called, because she really hadn't been paying attention, now she wished she had. Terra had chosen to stay in the woods for now anyways, she felt safer away from other people when she was alone. The learned instinct came from the past years she had once spent on her own.

And now with her powers rumbling in the pit of her stomach, and yanking at the chains of her mind; she didn't want to be close enough to hurt anyone if an outbreak happened. The tried-failed-hero pushed her mind state in the deeper hole of her lonely being. She tightened her shoulders around herself and let out yet another, though this time disgruntled, sigh.

It had been two days since she had found herself more alone than before. To put it simply, to avoid dramatics, it had taken a heavy toll on her… that had really already been stated though. Terra fidgeted then sat up straight as something rustled in the woods. Her brows narrowed against her face as she felt her body tense like a frightened rabbit.

When the air turned quiet again, Terra knew at once she wasn't alone. She bit her lip, wettening her lips before then pushing herself up to her feet. Her knee's quaked lightly, her hand then pushed against the tree trunk for balance as she stared straight ahead, then shifting her view to around her. Could it be X? Terra thought on it for a moment, her lips frowning only lightly as she shivered.

No, he wouldn't be hiding. He wasn't a coward… he would have come out and told her something offensive, made fun of her, something. And strangely, Terra had almost been listening for his mocking voice.

Pushing it away, Terra slanted her eyes slightly and held her ground. It could have been nothing, but something told her it was more. She listened to her instincts, since she had nothing else to argue her. A part of her wasn't surprised, but a shrill gasp still left her lips as she backed further against the tree. Emerging itself from the woods, a hunched and robotic figure walked into her clearing.

The orange circle over its face was very distinctive, it was supposed to be. The robot was a very clear symbol of its master, since the coward himself was often unavailable to whoever was receiving the message. Her eyes narrowed against her face, her skin wrinkling under their pressure as her palms firmed against the tree trunk behind her. The earth again rumbled under her feet, and only she heard its claims to her protection.

Terra watched carefully as the bot stopped in front of her, something was off. She lifted a brow up in question that the thing had yet to take action. It took her a moment to recap Slade's way of thinking, she had been trying too hard to push those pieces of knowledge away- however valuable it was –so she wouldn't have to face them anymore. But now she had to regain a little bit of it.

She didn't know why she was doing this, going on with what Slade obviously wanted… it was almost a curious instinct that just told her to do it. Terra pushed herself from the tree, straightening her shoulders as she felt a wave of power engulf the air around her. It was weird… but she almost took a little pleasure in suddenly having something to take a hidden and fearful rage out on.

With a loud cry, she spun around and brought her heel into the robots face with a powerful crash of her back wheel kick. The bot shattered at his face, the fragments of him splattering against the littered earth as Terra regained her powerful pose, lifting her chin so that a blue tone from the night seemed to weigh down her lower half, while her eyes settled highly and her lips frowning deeply towards the rest of the body in front of her.

The face off of the minion bot, half of a screen showed now, the new face staring back at her made her quiver. Memories suddenly screamed within her like a whirlwind of remembrance and pain. Her cheek stung, as if she had just been slapped that moment, though the trauma was silly, unplaced, it was still there, her uprooted emotions and memories confirmed that.

"You haven't lost too much touch, I see." The voice said with a mild form of malice.

Terra felt her lips lift in a snarl, but she lifted her hands and pushed the rest of the bots face away, cringing as the cold metal sizzled around; as she pushed the rest of the face away to reveal the full of Slade's upper body camera view. "Too bad you weren't here in person." She hissed, eyes narrowing softly. But she trembled anyways, a chill running down her spine. Figures, she had been avoiding Slade, she had been willing to give up the friendship she was already falling apart without, to avoid him. This just figured.

"I have a proposal for you."

"Not interested."

"Don't judge too quickly my dear." He said smoothly, his shoulder turning just slightly from her. The backdrop was the usual dark, eerie setting he always preferred. Terra opened her mouth to reply, her fists clenched at her sides, her fingers glowing slightly with the uncomfortable fear that she was trying to hide; but Slade interrupted her. "The problem I am facing includes your friends." Slade paused for a moment, before his eye narrowed. "All of your friends. Go to the city behind you, second Edward Street, third warehouse to your left."

Before Terra could respond the screen sizzled, then died away as the bot fell sideways to the ground. Terra watched mundanely. Her shoulders loose against her spine, her eyes staring at the bot lying helplessly on the ground as a couple sparks flew in the air. Her lips frowned softly, her eyes pale against her suddenly chilled skin. With a cold north wind, her hair flapped around her before settling lively around her head.

Fingers still clenched, inside something rumbled, but her face stayed the same before her eyes lifted to the city lying not far from her. Her soft frown deepened, brows lifting up her forehead as she shook with the cold chill that now inflated her.

--

--

"Ah, the little thief from America." A shadow chuckled with a noticeable accent. "Lock him up." With a flash of things, a blur of memories replayed he was thrown into a dark cell. The heat strangled him, though he had no sense of being. The un-breathable environment was so memorable. He gagged then pressed his face to the cold bars. They were hot, and burned against his skin. A feverish smell tainted the area, and sweat beaded down his tanned face. His eyes tried to peer past the darkness of the place but they failed.

Somewhere, someone laughed, while the entire backdrop became black, darkness peeked within the inner state as he sunk down to the floor. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the bars as the feeling of the cage boxed him in. Suffocating him entirely as he ducked his head and let his sun bleached strands of hair fall into his face, masking his eyes as his small shoulders trembled.

Crude voices blared, before being mixed in with loud Latino style carnival music. It became confused, pounding and pushing the rest of the surroundings into a grind. The scene changed then suddenly, the bright streets paved with brick where paraded down with laughing oiled brown faces, people sang and danced and wildly paraded down with fake skeletons. The bones rattled and raced, the skull faces pushed into full view then rushed back as the rest of the scene blurred. A queasy feeling was erupted as the skull face grinned maliciously and pushed its way into his face then backed away over and over again. The rattling noise only grew louder until it racked against his nerves, the unnatural cracking and splinting of the wooden bones ringing in his head. As the skull face grew closer, it's mouth opened wider in a idiotic smile in mockery, grinding towards him, pushing into his conscience, then falling back once more.

As it lingered, the smile pained so loyally against the rest of emotions felt; a dark figure was hunched in the corner. Brown hair fell around his face, a blue suite around him as blood trailed down from him and puddle. The red eyes of the mask stared empty into nothing, almost completely detached from the rest of the blue and red mask. The air around the person was dark and looming, while the ghosting skull continued to lull about, crackling and rattling. Alex felt himself stare down at the figure, his face twisted; he felt it like so. The figure didn't move, continued to stay bent over as red essence left him, a mask laying not far from him on the background, blood sprayed across it; Alex felt a confused muddlement, it wasn't remorse for the loss of life, maybe more of the lack of one that was never shared.

The mind state was a confused mess, and he saw himself standing against the lonely back drop, a pale and unmoving face as the bleakness of his own mind became one that was overwhelming. A large sword wound was highlighted in the figures chest, for some reason Alex could remembered it so well; that it welted his heart into painful swabs. The scar on his face began to burn, the nightmare suddenly throbbed against his mind, and a powerful burn erupted and pushed around him like a wave.

With a snap, the pictures and dreams were wiped from sight, but not mind. Looking around, Red X took in a rasped breath, his eyes wide for a moment, though the shade of the old building kept his features hidden. He moaned and lifted his palm to his face. Rubbing the cold paleness of his skin upwards until he let out a disgruntled sigh and pushed his hair out of his face. Still, shadows tainted around his face, keeping him hidden except for an ice colored chin and half a cheek. His sharp features stuck out in the darkness, but he didn't worry much… as far as he knew, no one was here but himself.

With a heave, X took in a deep breath of the cold winter air, feeling relief in the chilled feeling moisten his parched throat. With the palm of his hand he rubbed his eyes then shook his head, now fully awake. Red X looked around the empty room, an equally empty frown against his face as he watched the moonlight flood from the window, covered only by a tattered drape. He didn't feel safe here anymore, though it wouldn't make sense to anyone else but him as to why not.

Frowning deeper, Red X grabbed his mask from where he had laid it on the floor and brought it to his face. Holding it with one hand, he rubbed the other over the thin material. The symbol on it was memorable in the sense that he sometimes couldn't stand to look at it. But he had adopted it anyways, out of pure fate that it happened to be the one that Robin had picked for his own temporary costume.

The blank and slanted eyes stared back at him; the reflection that he gave himself had protected him many times. But it didn't keep away the inner thoughts all the time, sometimes deeper whispers still arose from the darkness of his mind. For the past two days they had increased, it made his eyes narrow as he knew that his own walls had been tattered and climbed.

His eyes narrowed further as his lips scowled under the dark. With a jerk of movement he tugged the mask over his head, pulling at the chin until it all pulled taught under his pressure. Again he put on his mirrored image and then stood up. Dust lifted from the carpet as his cape lifted upwards then flaunted around his frame as he moved.

This was the third city he had entered; Red X found he was quicker than he remembered, without waiting for someone else to catch up. Below him, the bright lights and dark buildings went on with their night life; unaware of the dramatics that where taking place within their walls. Red X tried to pretend he didn't know either, but he did. He still hurt, and it wasn't just from buried memories raising themselves from shallow graves, but he didn't want to think about her, so simply didn't.

When a gentle set of footsteps entered behind him, Red X tensed his shoulders, hunching his neck out a little further as his eyes resisted the temptation to look over. Even though he quickly scorned himself for giving in already, Terra first entered his mind. X shook his head, crossing his arms as he then lifted his chin. It wasn't Terra, but he knew someone just as capable of bringing his past back to life was now in the room.

"What do you want?" He asked, his eyes narrowing, making the eye slits slant.

"We have a problem." Said the familiar voice from a period of his childhood, it was unwelcomed to a cold part of a confusion, but his own cool was kept easily.

"When has that ever been my problem?" Red X scoffed, grinning briefly under his mask as his eyes tilted towards the edges of their sockets towards the slim figure behind him.

"It's going to be this time." She scoffed back. From the corner of his eye he could see her cross her arms as she leaned against a tattered pillar in the room. Moonlight bounced into the room, reflecting the deep copper-orange from her suite. "If we didn't need your help, I wouldn't be here anyways. You're so impossible."

Red X stayed quiet, he was in no mood to 'help' anyone. But then again, when was he ever really? He doubted anything needed his inference, or else he would argue that in his mind. Yeah, he had been planning on going anyways, but after the other night; he wanted to just go back to his petty excuse of a life, go steal something… that always made things better. Ha.

"It's about Terra."

Red X stirred, shifting his weight suddenly as he tilted his head slightly towards her, his eyes narrowing again before quickly looking away. Before he could come to a conclusion though, she interrupted.

"Supposedly, she's worth something. Wrong people looking for her, I wasn't sent to track you two down for nothing, and … by the way; you're welcome." She scoffed, a thin smile painted on her crimson pink lips.

Red X scoffed back, but something was tumbling again, as his arms crossed tighter, he felt that alien and almost affectionate emotion rumble again within him. It made him nervous, edgy; it changed his state of mind in such a quick snap of words that was it was ridiculous.

"Just think about it." With that she left, but X only bowed his head and crossed his arms tighter as a stray wind pushed through the broken window, throwing his cape around his legs as his eyes stared deeply at the city in his own train of muddled thought.

YAY! Longest chapter since chap 20. -dances around and squees- I am so excited now that the plot is starting -evil laughter- Hopefully I've done my homework right, and I can nail these characters down 8D