DC Gothic – Red-X
Part 15
The Games Master
Unknown Location
"Welcome Champions!"
The words 'What' 'The' and 'Fuck' were running through my mind right now. I had no idea what was going on or even how I'd gotten to this strange place all the way from Gotham City. Also I was now in my Red-X suit, which I hadn't been wearing mere seconds ago. Blackfire was also here and she was in her armour, which again was odd because we'd been in a hotel and she'd been naked.
"For those of you who have not met me before I am the Master of Games!" a voice boomed over what I guessed to be some sort of intercom "This contest is for all of you who are man, or woman, enough to fight to win, the winners will granted a great prize and all who fight will be rewarded for their efforts".
"NO WAY!" I heard Cyborg yell "Last time you called us here you stole our powers and tried to kill us!"
A few other people, who I didn't know, also expressed sentiments along these lines. It seemed that this 'Master of Games' had pulled this stunt off before, only this time I'd been dragged into things. I blamed the Titans as only they ever got me into this kind of trouble.
"Those who refuse to compete will be banish to a world filled with endless torment by demons that no mortal mind would even dare imagine".
Some sort of Hell-dimension I assumed, that or Disney Land.
"You tricked us last time" someone else I didn't know then said "We can't trust you"
There was a crowd all around me, which made it hard to tell who was speaking.
"While I am your host for this event it is not I who brought you here and it is not I who will grant the prizes" the voice was now telling us.
That could be lie, however I really didn't know enough to figure any of this craziness out.
"Tell me whose behind this!" Robin demanded to know
So I wasn't the only person he spoke too in a such a rude way. He was like that with all the bad guys. Now I felt less far less special.
"My Master is a being whose vast powers surpasses even my own. His name is the Traveller!".
No one reacted to that name as if they knew it, but to me the title meant something, it was like I'd heard of this creature somewhere before, and given what was going on this being had the power to rival that of a Q from Star Trek.
I spent so long thinking about it that I didn't snap out of my thoughts until the voice from behind the curtain said my name.
"In Room 15: Raven and Red-X"
"What?" I asked as I didn't understand what was going on.
I looked around for Blackfire and saw her go off with with her sister and wondered if one or both of them would be dead by morning. Not that I cared that much as Blackfire wasn't girlfriend material that was for sure.
She was just a useful tool, and given that she hadn't even waved goodbye I guessed she didn't care that much for me either. Which oddly didn't bother me much.
"Rest well young champions, for tomorrow you shall fight!" said the Master of Games.
"In Mortal Kombat" I softly added.
As I moved around I found that this place resembled a hotel in many ways, only it was much nicer than the one I'd been staying in. We'd been in what I guessed was some sort of presentation room, like the ones a big company might rent out if running a conference.
Knowing that they would have the key to my room at the front desk I went to find it. The receptionist was a demon of sort, a sexy at that. Some sort of Succubus I assumed.
"So do you work for the Traveller?" I asked.
The 'girl' was very well endowed and wore a pink baby doll that was almost transparent enough to allow me see all of her breasts. If not for the wings and the horns I'd think she was just a harmless woman who liked to be looked at.
"Yeah I'm here to drag you to my home dimension if you don't behave" she warned "I hope someone is naughty I haven't devoured anyone's entrails for a whole week".
Upon hearing that I decided to take my key and go to my room. Even Raven wasn't that scary, well maybe she was but I at least knew how to fight her, even if that did mostly involved running away.
Once I unlocked the door I took a look around the hotel suite. The first thing I noticed was that there was only one bed, which was going to cause me some trouble later. Also there was a table, and a wardrobe, that sadly didn't led to Narina, and lastly there was a set of draws. But not much else. No TV, no magazines, there was however a stereo that for some reason played either Barry White or other artists to make out by.
At least the bed was nice. Clean sheets, comfy pillows, with a small chocolate on each. And it was big enough that the people sharing it wouldn't actually have to lie close together unless they wanted to. Still I doubted Raven would care much as I was hardly the kind of guy she'd ever want to share a bed with.
There were two rooms that connected to the bedroom, a bathroom and a small kitchen, that I investigated next as I was thirsty. I opened the fridge and found it to be fully stocked with different kinds of liquor, strawberries, and lots of packaged chocolates. In short the kind of things a guy would give a girl to get her in the mood.
I did at least have access to real food. The freezer had boxes of pizza, and the cupboards had pasta and jars of sauce. If I could find some sort of meat I could make something from this. I went with hot dogs cut up with the spaghetti as that was rather nice.
"Hey, Sunshine" I said as Raven came in and closed the door behind her.
"Don't call me that" she said
Well we were off to a great start.
"As you wish" I replied.
She ignored me as he did her own investigation of the room, and I knew that now was the time to start drinking, but that would involve removing my mask. Which I was loathe to do.
"You don't need to bother wearing that mask, I saw what you looked like before" Raven reminded me.
Somehow she'd known what I was thinking.
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours" I said.
Thankfully she didn't misinterpret that statement and she lowered her hood.
"The door's gone" she then told me.
That took a moment to process because she hadn't said 'the door is locked' like someone might expect. But she was right, the door was in fact gone, there was just wallpaper were it use to be, and upon closer inspection I discovered the windows were just decoration there was no outside to escape into. Yet somehow they produced light.
Now I really needed a drink, so I took off my mask, hung up my cape and started drinking beer. I was going to need to a lot to get through this night.
"Why are there condoms?" I heard Raven say, possibly to herself, as she looked through the set of draws.
Given that I'd already figured that part out I explained.
"For the same reason there's booze and chocolate in the fridge. Boy and girls sharing a room, teenage hormones and drinking, it leads to sex".
She was mad at me for saying this, as if this was all somehow my fault.
"I can tell you right now, that is off limits" she said with a tone that promised pain if I even thought otherwise.
Not that there was any point in her threatening me. I was so not in the mood.
"Fine with me" was all I said "I wasn't even thinking about that sort of thing. I promise".
Given that I suspected that we were being watched I wasn't exactly eager to have sex.
"Why, what's wrong with me?" Raven then asked.
This was going to take careful handling.
"Nothing at all" I assured her "I would happily have sex with you but only if you consented to the act".
That seemed to actually appease her, but I left the room and hid in the kitchen just in case. However that didn't help as she followed me.
Raven didn't drink, beer at least so she made herself some tea. Why she carried herbal tea bags around with her I didn't know, but I had to admit, at least to myself, that in this case it paid off.
"Hungry?" I then asked the Teen Titan.
I damn well was.
"No" Raven then replied.
Her rumbling stomach suggested otherwise.
"Well I'm going to cook" I told the Teen Titan "If later you then decided to want some then that's fine with me and I promise not tell anyone you broke bread with your dreaded mortal enemy".
She didn't say anything so I put the pizza I'd taken out to defrost into the oven for her, as everyone in Jump City knew the Teen Titans loved their pizza, then I started to boil some water and started to cut up the hot dogs.
"You can cook?" Raven asked.
One look at her told me she was cold, but some hot food would help with that so I decided to add more spaghetti to the heating pot of water.
"I'm a man of many talents" I told Raven.
Most of them criminal ones.
"Sure you are" she replied, not sounding convinced.
I was rather offended to hear that.
"Really I can do more than cook" I assured the Teen Titan "I had to learn to look after myself".
That seemed to peek her interest.
"So Jinx doesn't take care of you?" Raven asked.
I would have thought she would ask about Blackfire, but if we could avoid that subject then it was for the best.
"Jinx never did anything like that for me, we weren't that close really" I told the heroine.
Mostly there'd just been sex. Jinx wasn't the housewife type and it had been obvious to me that she'd really just wanted a cool boyfriend. The boys at the H.I.V.E outnumbered the girls and at some point it seemed that the female population had decided to claim the guy they wanted just before the prom. Jinx was popular, but my competition had been pitiful so I'd won.
"Weren't?" Raven then said.
Clearly she'd picked up my use of the past tense.
"I had to leave Jump City so we broke things off" I explained "I didn't see her that much even before then. We led different lives".
"Good" was all Raven said.
The water was finally boiling and I got the jar of sauce out the cupboard and opened it.
"What about Blackfire?" Raven asked.
At this point the interrogation was getting annoying.
"Do you really need this much information on me?" I inquired of her "I'm not even working in Jump City any more, you don't need to track me down and lock me up. Leave that to someone else".
Raven looked at me like she didn't understand what I was talking about.
"I was just making conversation" she informed me "I normally read or mediate, but I don't have any books".
She didn't say why she wasn't mediating instead so I assumed that she didn't want to lower her guard around me. At least not that much.
"So you just want to talk" I reasoned.
Raven's expression change to something that looked a little more human.
"I'm hungry" the Teen Titan admitted.
So the allure of food was what had lowered her defences.
"There's a pizza in the oven" I told her "It should be done now. Could you take it out".
It was only a thin crust and I had a man's appetite so it wouldn't be enough to satisfy my belly, hence all the cooking. But Raven might be a light eater so it had been worth heating up.
Not much else was said until the food was ready and even when we sat down to eat. At least until Raven sampled the meal I'd prepared.
"This is nice" she commented "I never had spaghetti with hot dogs before"
I couldn't for the life of me recall if I'd come up with idea, or if someone had suggested it to me, so I took credit.
"It's my signature dish" I told the purple haired girl.
In my view it was the sauce that made it work. Without that hint of garlic with the tomato it wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it was.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you" I mentioned to Raven.
"What?" she asked.
I took off my gloves, picked up the knife I'd used to cut up the pizza and wiped it clean with a napkin. I figured I might need to prove my claim to immortality by cutting myself.
"Do you know anything about immortals?" I inquired.
"Why do you ask?" was her reply.
"I just heard about an immortal on the grape vine, and I was wondering if they really existed or if was all just a story" I lied.
Wisely, I didn't want to tell an enemy too much about me, but I had been hoping that she might know something. Either she didn't or she wasn't in the mood to share information. If she was now coming to the conclusion that I was an immortal it made little difference as she had no proof, and unlike Blackfire she wasn't going to do any tests.
After that we ate without speaking and it didn't feel uncomfortable at all.
"I'm going to bed" Raven then said in her normal monotone voice "Thank you for dinner".
I just sat there as she undid the hook on her cloak, and hung it up next to my cape, then she slid off her shoes and slipped under the covers.
After a big meal I did want a lie down so I finished my beer took my boots off and then laid on top of the covers so she would understand that I had no intention of trying anything
"Comfortable?" Raven asked sarcastically.
"I'm just Peachy, Sunshine."
Then with her powers she turned off the light, and sleep came easily to me despite my worries.
(Line Break)
Location Unknown
Hours later Raven woke up and felt shivers run down her spine. It was cold now for some reason, but that wasn't the only reason she had the chills, she had felt a presence. She was sure that someone else was in the room but she couldn't sense anything.
"X!" she said trying to grab her room mate's attention.
Well he didn't reply she shook him, and then she shook him again.
"X. Red-X.. James"
Finally X's eyes opened and he turned to look at her. She could sense the other presence leaving as X woke up, but that didn't comfort her.
"Did Robin give you that name?" Red-X asked.
That wasn't important right now, so she told him what was.
"Someone was in here, they might still be".
Hearing that woke the thief up, but he didn't move enough to startle Raven.
"Close your eyes, and don't open them until I say".
Red-X shot up and of bed and shouted 'Glitterdust!' and since Raven didn't listen the sudden change in light level blinded her for a few moment, when her vision recovered the lights were on and Red-X was in the kitchen.
"There's no one here" he informed her.
She could see that, barely.
"Why did you use that spell?" she both asked and complained "You could have blinded me".
Red-X frowned before he explained.
"Well it was suppose to blind whoever was watching us, that's why I told you to close your eyes so we didn't ruin our night vision"
That was perfectly reasonable, but Raven was still not happy about things.
"You could of warned me" she said.
"And that would have warned who ever it was spying on us" Red-X replied "Which would have totally ruined my cunning plan. If you'd done as I said then it wouldn't have hurt, it's your own fault".
Raven was still not ready to take the blame.
"I don't have to listen to you" she argued.
They were after all foes.
"Then next time don't bother me just because you have a nightmare" stated Red-X "I'm not your boyfriend. I don't have to put up with your crap".
Hearing that hurt Raven, but she suppressed the desire to throttle Red-X.
"Fine" the part demon said before disappearing under the covers "Just turn off the light".
Red-X did just that and once more he laid on top of the covers and tried to sleep.
"Aren't you cold?" Raven asked after a while.
She was a little chilly and she had blankets so she assumed that Red had to be freezing.
"The suit keeps me warm" X replied.
It really was an amazing outfit.
"Well I'm cold" Raven commented "I think someone turned the heating off. I wish they'd turn it back on".
Red-X sighed, and then said.
"You have all the blankets".
Which meant he couldn't do much else to make her comfortable.
"I know but...".
She stopped when she felt X move. His suit was indeed very good at persevering heat. Raven discovered this when Red put an arm around her pressed his body close to hers.
"What..." Raven tried to say, but she was interrupted
"Don't read anything into this, Sunshine" X said "I just don't want to hear you complaining all night. Now go to sleep".
At this point Raven caught somewhere between feeling scared and comforted at the same time. She remained still for a little bit and when X did nothing she relaxed and when back to dreaming of things like ponies.