DC Gothic – Red-X
Part 16
The Games Begin
Location Unknown.
I woke to find that I was alone, and as I looked around saw that my mask, gloves and mask were in a neat pile on chair by the table. I got out of bed and then took everything else off so I could go for a shower. I didn't want to stay under the water for long in case I missed something important, so after cleaning myself I took quickly care of some other business and then noticed that my suit was now neatly folded up and clean.
This didn't freak me out much because there wasn't anything threatening about someone doing laundry, but I did have to wonder if this place employed House Elves. However I resisted the urge to try to call for one as I had only had a towel wrapped around my waist, there was nothing else to perverse my dignity.
Which turned out to be a bad thing when Raven entered the room, looking very annoyed, she took one look at me then she turned around and left.
At this point I really didn't care any more, this place did not amuse me, there was nothing worth stealing and I was being forced to share my living space with a girl who went from being an ice queen one moment to an exploding volcano of emotion the next.
Also while I didn't mind fighting when I had to, I was a master thief not a super hero or a super villain I really had no place here.
I was hungry now, and that at least I could do something about as while there was food in the small kitchen this was a hotel, which meant they should serve breakfast, or lunch depending on how late I'd slept.
It wasn't until I sat down with my tray of food in the canteen that I encountered my next problem. I wore a skull mask, but I needed to eat. While the solution was simple: take off the mask, that would led to everyone seeing my face. Which was an issue. I mulled it over and then decided to take off the skull face. It wasn't like the man behind it was anyone famous.
The meal was actually rather good, I very much liked Hash Browns. I was enjoying the fact that no one paid any attention to me. At least until Blackfire came over and then sat down at the same table I was sitting at.
"Sorry what?" I asked
She'd said something I was just having trouble focusing due to my extreme lack of not caring.
"I asked if you were feeling okay, you look tired" she repeated.
Well that's what happens when people wake you up in the middle of the night because they have a nightmare.
"I didn't sleep very well" I said.
"Now why didn't you sleep last night, handsome?" she asked.
Her tone of voice made me think she actually cared about me. Which was just silly.
"Little Raven had a bad dream" I said in a childish tone.
I meant to sound as if I was mocking the Teen Titan, because I was, but it didn't come across that way.
"Oh my poor baby" said Blackfire "Did the mean demon ruin your nap time".
At this point I wasn't sure if she was mocking me or actually trying to be comforting in her own weird way, but the only thing I cared about now was the fact that Raven was apparently a demon.
"Why would Robin work with a demon? They're beings of pure evil" I mused out loud.
Well Jason Blood had a demonic side, and he'd worked with the League but that was a special case because Merlin had done some powerful magic to bind the demon. But Raven was not a human who could turn into a demon, she wasn't human at all. I didn't think she was possessed, of course it was possible that Raven was not a soulless monster, but still working with a demon seemed awful risky to me.
"Wait I think she's only half-demon" Blackfire told me "Starry didn't dish out all the dirt last night".
Now I remembered that the two of them had shared a room and I could see Starfire from here, so clearly they hadn't killed each other. Also since Blackfire was here with me I also assumed that she had indeed been distracted last night and she hadn't in fact abandoned me.
"So you two aren't fighting any more" I said.
It wasn't really a question but Blackfire gave me an answer anyway.
"Well we couldn't fight because this place won't let us" she informed me.
Given that clothes cleaned themselves here hearing that did not surprise me in the least, and it made sense as without something like there was no way so many villains could be around this many heroes without fights breaking out, or without at least some of the bad guys trying to stab each other in the back.
"How does it stop people fighting?" I inquired.
I wanted to know as there might be a way around it. There were always loopholes it was just a matter of finding one.
"Well when I tried to hit Starry all the pain she should of felt somehow ended up hurting me".
I found that interesting very interesting.
"So we talked for hours" Blackfire went on to say "Well Starry talked for hours I listened a lot. But we worked stuff out and then we took a nice hot bath together".
As she said that the alien girl planted herself on my lap.
"You took a bath with Starfire?" I asked.
Well they were sisters so maybe it wasn't that weird. Still I couldn't help but picture it turning into some lesbian incest action. Thankfully that didn't result in a certain part of my body poking Blackfire as incest didn't really do anything for me even if wasn't exactly repulsive right now.
"Yeah it's a thing on my world. People when they make up clean dirt of each other, it's a symbolic thing" she explained.
Okay that made sense, it would be saying your washing away the past or something along those lines.
I then noticed that Blackfire's English was getting really good. Must be due to all the kissing we'd done.
"So are you gonna join the Titans?" I asked.
That made Blackfire laugh a lot.
"Oh yeah, can you imagine that" she said once the giggles had stopped "Me a Titan, sure I'll join if you do!".
Yeah it was kinda silly. A meaningful talk and a bath wasn't going to turn her into a good person, nothing sort of rewiring her brain would led to that. As for me joining, well Robin would have to remove that rod stuck up ass before that would ever happen.
"I think I'd have more luck in getting Supergirl to fall in love with me" I joked "Or maybe I could get invited on a tour of the Batcave!".
She was actually here so when I said that she turned to look at me. Despite all the noise in here she'd heard me, which I guessed was down to super hearing or something along those lines. However she didn't leave her seat, she just turned around again and went back to talking to Batgirl.
"So what are you going to do?" I wondered.
Blackfire didn't need long to form an answer.
"I figured I'd better leave soon" she said "The Centuria police are still after me because I escaped from prison. Earth is too close to their home world for them not to find me, so I figured I'd head out to the rim".
By that I figured she meant the rim of the galaxy or something like that.
"I'll come back in a few months when the heats died down" the princess then added "I promised Starry I'd visit again and your dirtball isn't so bad. I could hang for a while".
It wasn't exactly my dirtball, so I wasn't insulted enough to comment on the remark.
"Hey do you wanna come with me" Blackfire offered.
The offer startled me, but the more I thought about it the more the idea appealed to me.
I didn't really have anything keeping me here on Earth, and there were many good reasons for me to leave. The League of Shadows wanted me dead. I wasn't with Jinx any more, and she was here so if she'd wanted to talk to me she would have, and I wanted to escape the freaks know as the Teen Titans. Sure Slade would be pissed about me running off again, but what he could do about if I was at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy.
So getting off this planet made a lot of sense. Go off world, let people forget about me and then come back later. Sure it might be dangerous, there was a chance that Blackfire would abandon me some where in the space boonies, but I was if not truly immortal then at least hard to kill and I was resourceful so there was a chance I'd make it home.
"Could be fun" I said causally.
Blackfire beamed at me.
"I'll go tell Starry the good news. It might make Robie-poo happy if we left. He really doesn't like you when you aren't saving his life" the alien princess told me.
Yeah he was a kind of a jerk about that. One minute he was like 'You could be a hero' then the next time we'd met he would rant about sending me to jail like he could actually accomplish the feat.
An example of this was when Robin led the Teen Titans, sans Cyborg who was somewhere else, over to my table and just by the way he was standing I could tell he was going to annoy me yet again.
"Red-X if you think you're leaving Earth without paying for your crimes then think again because...".
"Shut Up!" I ordered.
And he did, and before he could start up again I decided that it was time for me to speak.
"When has any Titan, individually or collectively, been able to stop me from doing anything I want whenever I want. You threaten me again and again, but it's meaningless because you can't do anything to me".
Robin didn't agree with that and tried to knock me out with his staff. He hit me on the head so hard I should have started seeing doub;e, but that didn't happen all the pain was transferred to the Boy Wonder and he dropped to the ground. Starfire ran up to him and I went and stood on the table. Now that I had to whole rooms attention it was time to really lay into them. I was going to make them sorry for ever meeting me.
Since Cyborg wasn't here I couldn't have a go at him, and this was for the best I actually thought he was okay when he wasn't trying to shoot with his arm cannon thing.
"Beast Boy"
He would be the first to feel my verbal wrath.
"What?" he asked.
I ignored that and kept going.
"You are a clown. You use humour to hide the fact that deep down you have nothing meaningful to say. In my opinion you'd be better off turning into an animal and staying that way as at least then the real Titans could use as a mascot, and not have to put with your stupidly".
Oh this felt so good.
"If you're lucky in twenty years when you can't fight crime any more then maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to find work at a carnival. Children will laugh and throw food at while you change shape to amuse them. But that's only if you don't get yourself killed first".
Now for Raven.
"You are one of the most broken people I have ever had the misfortune to met. You do everything you can to hide and push people away and it amazes me that anyone can even stand to be around you. The only reason I can think of for Robin letting you on his team is that your powerful. If you weren't useful to him, he wouldn't even bother to remember your name".
Given that I had to share a room with this total emo, insulting her wasn't that wise but at this point I'd rather sleep in a rat infested boiler room than in the same room as her. Also I wasn't sure Robin would actually have forgotten her, but if she didn't have powers she'd never have stepped foot inside Titan Tower of that I was sure.
"But behind the hood and the attitude your so desperate for human contact that you'll go on a date with an enemy just to get some attention. The only reason I don't pity you is because you are such an annoying bitch. Your judgmental, moody and the way you treat people is sickening".
The only reason she hadn't gone and blasted me was because she couldn't without harming herself, but I could tell it was a struggle for not to.
"Starfire" I said, as she was my next target "I can't decided if your naïve or just down right stupid. Your sister tried to put you in prison so she could avoid paying for her mistakes, but after one night your ready to forgive her. Just how gullible are you?"
Blackfire was no more reformed that I was. She'd tried to kill me just to see if I would actually die. I might have a use for her but that didn't mean I trusted her, only a moron ever would.
"But while you are a trusting fool I actually like you a little so here's some advice. If Robin doesn't starting manning up and give the love you deserve then leave. You're a princess go home and help your people, no one here would blame you for getting away from these freaks".
For once female tears did not move me.
"Robin" I said, deciding to finish with the leader as I had the most to say . "You're an orphan who was taken by a man whose just as crazy as the criminals he fights. You could have been sent to live with a loving family yet the closest thing you have to a father is a man that's so desperate to fight crime that he was willing to dress you in a costume and put you in danger night after night. No wonder you're so messed up".
He'd gotten up at this point so he had to listen to everything I had to say and there was nothing he could to make me stop. Which was lucky for me.
"I mean look at you" I went on to say "Anger issues aside, you are so wrapped up in being a hero that it blinds you to the fact that you could have a much better life".
Which wasn't much of an insult, but I really did think that he needed to hear what I had to day. He might not listen but I had to try.
"And as for the suit you think I stole, newsflash kid I didn't steal it, the suit was given to me by the real thief, but your too close minded to even consider the idea that I'm not really your problem. And even I had stole it you are not responsible for anything I do with it, because I am my own person. I decided what I do, no one else".
At this point Cyborg had turned up to support his friend and he had enough of his wits to verbally debate what I had been saying.
"Hey now we never said we were prefect, but at least we try to make the world a better place, and that means something".
He was so wrong about that.
"Most of the time it doesn't" I corrected "You chase bad guys and throw them in jail, but let's face prisons might as well have revolving doors for all the good they do. How many times have you faced down a crook you already stopped. You're not fixing anything because you can't even see how flawed the system really is".
Now it was Robin's turn to pitch in.
"The city needs us to protect it from people like you!".
"Yes because the police could never stop a thief" I said "Well maybe not me, but I mostly steal things from insured places that can afford the loses, it's you so called heroes who keep turning up to trash everything. Remember the museum, how many priceless artefacts did you destroy trying to stop one guy from stealing one thing. How much did your actions cost other people?".
I took a deep breathe, but started up before anyone else could speak.
"Besides it's not like I'm a terrorist, or a rapist, or a murderer" I then pointed out "but still you think it's a good idea to deal with me by trying to beat me up. Which in my view makes you no better than the thugs you love to fight so much!".
I seemed to be on a role so I didn't stop.
"How much time have you wasted chasing me when there's much worse people on the streets?" I then asked.
At this point I began to think that at least some of the people around me were actually starting to understand that I was making valid points.
"As for your enemies, well most of them are pitiful. Control Freak. Mad Mod. Doctor Light. You could crush the likes of them like bugs if you wanted to, but you'd rather play cops and robbers, but that's a game for children and you really need to grow up".
"But we saved the city" Beast Boy reminded everyone "From that Professor Chang guy, that was like last week"
I had a counter for that.
"And that's only reason they tolerate you. You have so use to people, but they only let you chase bad guys like me because they are afraid to. Just remember kids, a vigilantly is also a criminal, the only difference between us that no one tries to arrest you. But mark my words a day will come when you they fear you, and then you'll know what it's like to be hunted.
I still wasn't done.
"As for saving Jump City, what did any of you do other than act as hostages?" I asked, while not giving them a chance to answer "Robin actually came close to saving everyone and he doesn't even have super powers, but if it weren't for me you'd all be dead right now and Jump City would be nothing more than ashes. And if saving lives matters so much to then why aren't you thanking me for helping to save yours?".
That last part shut everyone, and I hadn't even mentioned how moronic it was not to call in the Justice League to deal with Slade, because even Deathstroke wasn't a match for the entire League. Well not all at once.
"Think about what I said" I urged the Titans as I turned and walked away "Or at the very least leave me the fuck alone!".
I doubted they'd ever change, but at the very least I'd gotten to say my peace, and that was something. I felt good now, really good even if I had just told Blackfire's sister that she shouldn't trust Blackfire and I got the bad feeling that the offer of ride around the galaxy was about to be taken off the table. So if I was stuck on planet Earth for the foreseeable future I'd just have to make the best of it, and survive as best I could.
Granted I had yet to figure out how to do that, but unless I got something really good as a prize it looked as if I would returning to Jump City as my employer wanted me back.
I was well and truly boned.