DC Gothic – Red-X
Part 6
Apprenticeship 2
Coffee Shop – Jump City
Long ago a wise man said: Know they enemy, so I'd decided to learn everything I could about the Teen Titans and since I was product of my times that meant looking on the internet. So here I was sitting in a coffee shop drinking a nice mocha while browsing a website using my new laptop, that Slade had brought me.
Deathstroke was proving to be an interesting master. I was learning a lot of him simply by paying attention to what he had to say, and he was also training me. Mostly it was combat training, which was not fun to say the least as Slade did not pull his punches enough for my liking, but there were other things he taught me. Not painful things.
The guy might be a total monster but he knew a lot about robotics, more than anyone on my world could know, and was willing to pass at least some of that knowledge along.
He also had some cool toys, and he was also willing to share them with me. Right now I had a freaking ray gun hidden in the pocket of my new leather jacket. That was just so cool.
Also he hadn't been lying about the money. He was actually paying me, which allowed me to see him as more of a boss than anything else and he tolerated me calling him that.
Rough sparring sessions a side, as of yet Deathstroke not made me do anything I wasn't comfortable doing, but I knew that it was just a matter of time before he asked me kill someone or get killed trying to off them. He wanted me to kill Robin, but he was no fool he knew I wasn't ready. I imagined that if I ever did kill the Boy Wonder than he would intensify my training.
For the time being at least my plan was reap the benefits of my apprenticeship and just do as I was told right until it was time to leave.
But that could all wait as right now I was learning a lot about the Titans, in fact one of them was right here in the coffee shop. Raven was sitting at a table with a laptop of her own like she was just another person.
It was a bit surreal, and an great opportunity really as right now I could just shot her in back and kill a Teen Titan.
Why none of the super villains that infested this city ever thought of getting a high powered sniper rifle and just assassinating one or more of the Teen Titans when they visited their favourite pizza place was a mystery to me.
My only theory was that they didn't because they thought the Justice League would come after them, or that the other Teen Titans would kill the assassin in retaliation, which I didn't think they would but I could see why other people might worry about it.
The laptop on the table beeped as someone called Darkbird01 posted a new comment on the Teen Titans fan page form and then out of the corner of my eye I saw the screen of Raven's laptop. She was on the same page as me and she had no idea that 'Gothic', which was my user name, was right behind her.
To make sure she was in fact Darkbird01 I replied to her comment with a question and soon Raven was typing away, and then the comment came up on the webpage.
Okay so Raven of the Teen Titans was a poster on the fan page, well that explained how the user knew so much, and it gave me a prime opportunity to have some fun.
I put on my sunglasses and then moved over to sit down at Raven's table. She was not happy to see me so I decided to start the conversation.
"Out on your own, Raven?" I asked.
Raven lifted her head to stare at me and I had to smirk.
"We've met a couple of times before" I said, dropping enough of a hint "You've seen me at work".
"Red-X" she greeted monotonously "You are either very brave or very stupid."
Staying perfectly relaxed I leaned back and gave her another smirk.
"Well I guess it is brave to talk to a pretty girl sitting alone in a café" I remarked "and I don't feel stupid".
Raven's expression remained unemotional, but I guessed that right now her mind was working a mile a minute. She'd been thinking about how to capture me without getting any innocent bystanders getting harmed, as the coffee shop was not empty.
"I've seen your face, now" pointed out Raven with just the hint of a smirk on her face "that was stupid".
Actually it was not as foolish as it might seem.
"So you know I'm guy with dark hair who likes to dress in black. What does that actually tell you?"
Rather than answer me she asked a question of her own.
"So what you thought you could just sit down and we'd have a chat?"
Well weren't exactly friends.
"Why not?" I asked in return.
"Because you're a wanted man," she said evenly "And if you think I won't take you in just because you're not wearing the suit, then you're wrong".
Raven tried to be subtle in the way she tensed for battle, but I stayed relaxed as I knew she wouldn't attack first because of the civilians around us. She wait for me to make a move, counter it and then take me down.
"Really, Raven" I said "I don't have my suit or my toys so you could beat me, but it wouldn't accomplish anything. You've got nothing whatsoever to tie me to Red-X and even if dragged me to the cops then I'll just deny it. Besides I'm not a psycho I don't want to hurt people".
Well if anyone hurt me I'd hurt them back happily but harming people who had done nothing to me wasn't my thing. I was a rogue not a murderer.
"You're still evil" was her retort.
That was a little harsh. I wasn't a good guy, but in a world where you had people like the Joker I couldn't be considered that evil.
"I like to think I'm chaotic neutral" I told the Teen Titan.
Given that she didn't look confused by that statement I assumed she got the reference to D&D.
"So, what do you want?" Raven inquired of me.
I smiled again and tried to look friendly. To be fair I was out of practice. I was loner by nature so I didn't exactly have an active social life.
"Is it so hard to believe that I want to chat to a pretty girl?"
Guys did it all the time. Mostly in an attempt to get laid, and to be fair I wouldn't mind a roll in the hay with the purple haired girl. She was a quiet one and they're always the more kinky in bed.
"What are you gonna by me a drink?" Raven asked flatly.
Well her cup was running low so I waved over the waitress and ordered another Mocha, but Raven refused to let me buy her anything. Clearly she was not interested in any sort of relationship with me.
"Either tell me what you want, or I'll go find a place where I can be alone" Raven then said.
Yeah that was what she needed, more solitude. I could tell just from the way she dressed that she felt disconnected from people while also secretly wanting to be noticed.
"I really just wanted to talk to you" I said honestly
Girl had trust issues, but given how people had tried to kill her since she became a Titan I couldn't really blame her.
"I don't play games" was her reply.
"Shame I bet your a demon with a chessboard" I joked.
That didn't go down very well. She got up and stormed out which caused the waitress who had been bringing me my coffee to spill the hot liquid all over the floor.
"Sorry about that" I said, apologizing for the rude Teen Titan "I think I said something wrong".
I decided to leave a very big tip, and then to get the hell out of the café as the purple haired girl might even now be calling the other Titans. It was best for me not to be here when they arrived.
(Line Break)
Slade's Hideout – Jump City
The next morning, I went down to the boss's office where Slade was sitting at his computer, and he was looking at familiar webpage.
"Ah, good morning, Gothic" Deathstroke greeted.
So he knew about me meeting Raven, or at the very least he knew I'd communicated with her via the internet because it wouldn't be hard for a guy like him to figure out who Darkbird01 really was.
"Good morning, sir," I mumbled in reply.
Yeah I was in trouble. I could just tell.
"I want to do some sparring today," announced Slade while standing up. "Come over here onto the mat."
As Slade stepped onto a large mat I followed and I was worried because this was going to hurt.
"I'll go easy on you today, but still I expect you to try your best" Slade said "You'll end up with some bruises if you don't, understood?"
"Yes, sir," I said in response, as this was not the time to call him boss.
Slade came in suddenly and caught me off guard, knocking me to the ground with a firm shove to the chest. Knowing that I to fight back or I'd get a lot worse I jumped to my feet and for the next few minutes, I surprised myself with some excellent defensive moves. I didn't dare to strike back but Deathstroke wasn't able to hurt me, which was something at least.
Then he got past my guard and dropped me to the ground once again, only this time it hurt a lot more because he'd swept my legs out from under me and I hit my head. Thankfully my suit protected all parts of my body so the padding reduced the risk of head injury.
"I told you to be careful" chided Slade
"I was being careful" I grunted.
This made Slade sigh loudly enough that I could hear him despite the mask he always wore, he was disappointed no doubt but he would hardly be surprised he was a fast son of bitch given that he was no spring chicken these days.
"In your next training session I will push you a little harder" he warned "So start fighting back".
I tried to do just that and ended up with a really sore arm. Slade had decades of experience and while he might be old now it didn't seem to be slowing him down. Still he knew this too, and so wasn't expecting me to win any time soon.
"Now get up and try again" Slade ordered.
This was going to be a long day, I just knew it.
(Line Break)
Titan Tower – Jump City
"What did he look like?" Robin demanded to know.
Slamming his hand down on the kitchen table had no effect on Raven as she was not easily intimated.
"He was young, handsome, tallish" he told Robin "Well taller than you but not too tall, not too skinny like you, but not too fat either".
Which wasn't very helpful as the Boy Wonder knew all this as he'd met Red-X, the suit conformed to the body and didn't add much height.
"He was a little pale, but that might be because he has dark hair, it was cut short but not short enough for my liking, but he was neat and clean, but not like he uses too much product like some guys I know".
At this point Robin, and other Teen Titans were starting to wonder if Raven was describing Red-X or her idea of what she'd like in a boyfriend. But they said nothing on that subject, but that didn't stop Raven from talking more.
"He was young, probably in his late teens to early 20s" Raven then added.
Which really didn't narrow it down as that could describe a few hundred people in Jump City at least, maybe many more given that it was easy for a person who didn't have any distinguishing features to blend in.
"Oh, and he wore sunglasses so I didn't see his eyes, but I bet they're blue".
She liked blue.
"So what do we just go around and question every white guy close to our age with dark hair?" Cyborg asked "because that covers Robin too".
Beast Boy decided to lighten the mood.
"Maybe it really is Robin" he joked "Fess up dude, promise not to do again and we'll forget all about Red-X".
The Boy Wonder was not amused, and also Starfire had an opinion of her own to share.
"How do we know this person even is the Red-X?" she asked "he only claimed to be and offered no proof. This could be a trick of some sort".
Robin doubted that, but he didn't dismiss the idea either.
"No it was him" Raven assured her friends "he talked to me like he'd met me before and he... err flirted with me".
Well that settled it then.
"Fine so he's not hiding so much" Robin said "That will just make it easier for us to track him down".
Raven decided then to say more.
"He's just a thief" she reminded everyone "I don't think he wants to hurt anyone, and I don't think he was just messing with me. Maybe we shouldn't..."
Robin was not prepared to hear any suggestion like the one Raven been about to make.
"I don't care, he's going down!" promised the Boy Wonder.
(Line Break)
Slade's Hideout – Jump City
The next few hours flew by with sparring with some of Slade's robots as the real Deathstroke was busy with the computer yet again.
Sometimes I just had to wonder what he was doing. He had a robot army, not a big one, but it was an army and he seemed to be looking over a lot of information.
I'd almost asked him once if was aiming for world domination, as he was rather obsessed with creating a legacy and being a tyrant who ruled the entire Earth was one way to get into the history books.
But again I didn't ask. Instead I worked on perfecting staff stances and attacks. Robin favoured this weapon so it was important for me to understand what a person could do with a staff. I was after all being trained to kill the Boy Wonder.
Wanting to end this training session, as my whole body was aching at this point, I spun around and knocked the butt end of my staff in the robot's chest, before whacking it on the chin. The machine was remarkable life like in some respects it even seemed to be disorientated by what I'd just done so I knew that now I could finish it off.
I twisted part of the staff and turned into a spear, and with a great feat of strength I drove the pointy end into what passed for the robot's eyes, which was a weak point, and that caused it to collapse as what passed for the thing's brain was in it's head.
That done I yanked the staff out, twirled it around in my hands, and made it shrink before placing it back on my belt.
"You're getting better" Slade commented
"Thanks" was my simply reply
"I will give you five minutes to rest and then you will fight another robot," Slade informed me "This time you will use a sword. It's time you learned how to use a more lethal instrument".
So we getting closer to that whole killing people thing.
"Yes, sir" was all I said.
Slade walked over to the supply room to get the aforementioned sword while I ordered another robot to stand on the mat. The machines accepted my orders but I knew for certain that I couldn't order them to attack Slade as they would be programmed not to do such a thing.
"Now onto business" Deathstroke said after handing me the cool ninja sword "I think you should pursue Raven".
At this point I was glad that the automatons had also been ordered not to harm me as I when I heard Slade say that I should pursue Raven I nearly dropped my sword.
Thankfully I was able to focus enough on what the robot was doing while also listening to my master that I did not embarrass myself too much.
"I'm not sure that's possible" I said in a way that hopefully couldn't be thought of as insubordinate "she doesn't like me very much".
Frankly I couldn't imagine her liking anyone very much.
"She might surprise you" Slade replied "but seducing her isn't your objective. I simply want you to get closer to the Titans. You might be their enemy but they won't consider you real threat to their lives".
That was true, and I didn't want to threaten their lives.
"If we can set up a situation that paints you in a more positive light, then they might even begin to trust you and if they think that you are interested in Raven then that will make it less suspicious" Slade then said.
I had to admit, at least to myself, that it wasn't as crazy as it sounded. Batman worked with Catwoman sometimes and she was a thief like me.
Of course there was the issue that I hadn't actually broken with Jinx, we'd kept it causally but she might not see things the way I did. I was fine with cheating as I had to do what Slade said but if Jinx found out it might piss her off even if she did think we were over. A woman's wrath was almost as scary as the idea of failing Slade. Almost.
"How about this" I said "I go on another job, you tip the Titans off and when they get there you send some robots in after the Titans so even I don't actually save one of them then at least fighting along side them might make them think better of me".
It seemed like a good start to me.
"You have improved much faster than I expected, apprentice" Slade praised "You can keep the sword".
Despite the reward he hadn't been talking about my skill with the blade.
"Thank you, sir" I replied.
"Now go rest" Deathstroke ordered "Soon you will have much to do".
Yes, that we did. The world wasn't going to conquer itself.