Author Note

Another good chapter I think. Some more action.

DC Gothic – Red-X 2

H.I.V.E School – Under The Sea

"Tell me again why we aren't making Raven suffer more for destroying your bike?" Jinx asked me as we crawled through the air vents "Don't get me wrong I like spending time with you, but this really isn't my idea of a good time".

The answer to her question was a simple one.

"Business before pleasure" I told her "We can do something you enjoy later on".

Since she was behind me I couldn't see her face, but I knew she was smiling right now.

"Promise?" she said.

I could tell by her voice that she had something in mind that I would also enjoying taking part in.

"Promise" I confirmed.

That was when the section of the vent we'd been climbing through suddenly collapsed, and before I could do more than be surprised the whole thing hit the floor below us.

Once we were sure that the fall was over we stepped out of the vent and some lights came on. Then I saw that we were in a large room that was filled with bad guys so I readied myself to fight.

"Shall we dance?" I taunted.

The men had laser weapons, but that didn't matter as the bad guys were aiming at where we were rather than were we were going. However I knew that sooner or later one of the goons would get lucky so I threw down some smoke, and then I ran at the thugs. I punched and kicked them out, one by one with my martial arts moves.

Sadly for me more men with guns started to pile into the room, and while Jinx was able to bring them great misfortune thanks to her powers, there were simply too many of them for her to fight.

So I used my own sci fi weapon and fired energy blasts at the guys while running across the room. I hit a few of them, and while they wore body armour that didn't mean I hadn't killed a few, but this was life and death. Not for me perhaps, however it was just that for my girl and I did not want her to die.

The men kept firing their lasers, but now most of them were focused on me and while they all missed I didn't want to press my luck so I teleported across the large room and started to kick ass at close range yet again.

I then used a giant X shape to stick a group of the thugs in place, and they were like fish stuck in a net. I could have killed them all at that point, but I was no murderer I was only a thief.

Then all the sudden the silence went away, and someone started clapping. This confused me so I turned around and sought out the source of the noise.

On a balcony above me there was Brother Blood and he looked very impressed by what he saw.

"That was quiet a show there!" the super villain said to me. "Well done my boy, well done indeed!".

Despite the wards we had sown into our clothing and our stealth skills the Headmaster had somehow known we were coming, and he had prepared a trap. To do that he must have also known our exact route, which meant either my girlfriend had tipped him off or Brother Blood had means of detecting people that even I couldn't counter.

"What the hell is this?" Jinx asked.

Brother Blood floated down from the balcony and landed next to me. He looked as if he didn't consider me to be a threat to his well being. Which was a big mistake.

"So you're Red X!" he said with a smile "I've heard so much about you my boy. The Prince of Thieves, the one crook the Titans can never, never catch!".

In this case flattery would not get him anywhere.

"Oh brother!" I said with sighed.

I could already tell that this guy was a typical villain. Aside from the fact that he had crappy henchmen he was also arrogant, and he loved the sound of his own voice.

"Brother Blood" he corrected.

Another way of identifying the classic super-criminal stereotype was that fact that they wanted everyone to know the name they had chosen for themselves. Even when it was rubbish.

"Yeah I know all about you" I said.

I'd tried to sound bored, but with the voice distorting feature of my mask I wasn't sure if he'd pick up on that.

"And I know all about you!" replied the evil headmaster "You're such a talented young man, yet all you do is waste your potential".

Considering that in my short career I'd been Slade Wilson's apprentice and now I was the leader of a band of super powered crooks I thought I'd been doing rather well.

"You only use your abilities to steal" Blood was now saying to me "But in time you could become a world famous super-criminal, if you were to join my academy!"

Technically I'd be rejoining as I had been a H.I.V.E student in the past.

"I think not" I told him.

My refusal struck a nerve with Brother Blood.

"Is that so?" he said with an evil smile "Because I've a feeling that I have an offer for you. One that you simply can't refuse!"

That was when his eyes began to glow and for a moment I thought he was going to go all demonic on me, but nothing magical happened all I felt was an strange urge to obey the headmaster only I found it very easy to ignore.

"I see a very bright future for you" Blood went on to say "And for Jinx as well".

To my shame I'd totally forgotten about Jinx for a moment, but she was there standing right by my side. Sadly as it turned out, she was no longer on my side.

"Yes, master" my girlfriend said.

Now I understood that Brother Blood had some kind of mind control power and that it didn't work on me. I'd seen enough fiction to know the signs brainwashing when I saw them, and I also knew that it might be a good idea to play along so the bad guy would lower his guard.

"Follow me" Blood then order. "Let me show you what I'm doing."

Brother Blood walked on down the halls and my girl followed behind him. I soon got into the spirit of things and walked beside her. But I spared a glance at the goons behind me, and I was pleased to note that all of them could stand. Which meant I hadn't killed anyone, and it also told me that they had energy absorbing armour of some kind.

When we got to a lab of some kind the Headmaster explained that his students were working another 'class project'. I knew some of them from my time at the first H.I.V.E school and others were known to me thanks to the files the Titans had. The ones I knew were Private HIVE. Billy Numerous. See-More, and Angel who had all been in the classes below mine back when Slade had pulled me out.

"Students" Blood said, getting their attention "Meet your new classmates, Red-X and Jinx".

There was a polite round of applause. It was forced of course because they were also under the evil Headmaster's control.

"Now let me explain our class project" Brother Blood then said to Jinx and I "The chemicals you see are harmless by themselves, but when allowed to mix they create a concoction many times more devastating even than napalm".

This was not good. Brother Blood was clearly one of those 'wants to see the world burn' types.

"Thanks to my genius I have built a submarine of my own design" the Headmaster told me "and with the missiles my students are building I plan on destroying the entire of Jump City!".

Now I knew I would have to stop him at all costs.

"Starting with Titan Tower!" the Headmaster then roared.

Now I knew he had to die.

"Why don't I show you my submarine!" Brother Blood said once he had calmed down

Since I was acting like a brainwashed zombie I planned to say nothing unless directly asked for information so I kept my mouth shut as Jinx and I were lead into a room half filled with water. There was the big red submarine, and before I had a chance to study it the mind-controlled students started to install the warheads they'd been filling with special chemicals.

"My sub is just about ready" Blood then said with a manic smile.

I could tell that he wanted me to say something so I did.

"Your plan is brilliant, headmaster" I lied.

In my experience even bad guys as intelligent and controlled as Deathstroke had a blind spot when it came to sycophancy, however while my flattery wasn't heartfelt I had to admit to myself that while his plan was needlessly destructive, it wasn't that badly thought out.

If this submarine just popped up in the bay without warning then it could be firing its weapons at Titan Tower, and the city before anyone would even notice it was there.

"Oh but this is only the start, Red-X!" Blood said to me "Today we burn Jump City, tomorrow the world falls to its knees before us!".

This guy was too crazy and too evil to be allowed to live, yet I couldn't bring myself to just stab him. I was okay with killing in self defence, but murdering someone in cold blood, even if it saved lives, was something I just couldn't bring myself to do.

"I can see it now!" the Headmaster was monologuing "Once you bring your friends here I will have an army of super powered crooks at my command, and with the Titans gone only the Justice League will stand in my way!".

Now I understood why he was so happy to have me here. Having a thief of my skill at his command would be an asset, but what really interested Blood about me was the fact that I led the Shadow Squad.

Between us my team and I had some mad skills. Blackfire was a power house in her own right. Mammoth was strong and tough. Gizmo was a wizard with tech. And Kyd had the funky powers. As for me well he would need a lot of resources to take on the JL and I could have stolen some of what he needed. Heck he might even be able to snag Terra since she hanged out with us.

"Now Red-X..." the Headmaster started to say.

That was when there was a big bang and some alarms went off.

"What is happening?" Blood demanded to know.

A masked minion informed him that some unknown vessels had fired on the base and were now sending soldiers to board this base. If I was right Aquaman and his troops were here. I'd not sent the email to the Daily Planet's Clark Kent that long ago, but he was Superman so he could move fast.

I put that was something I could think more on later as now that I had distraction going on I knew it was time for me to strike. I kicked Brother Blood hard and knocked him to the ground.

"You didn't really think that mind-control trick would work on me, did you?" I mock asked.

I didn't know why it hadn't worked on me, it was something that I would have to look into at a later date. For now I'd just be grateful.

"You traitor" Brother Blood yelled.

Since I'd never been loyal to him this was unfair.

"Oh shut up!" I commanded

Then I was distracted for a moment as I saw Shayera wading into the thugs who worked for Blood with her Nth metal mace.

"Destroy them all!" the Headmaster ordered.

I felt something hit me and I realised that Jinx was attacking me. Which meant she was still under Blood's control.

"Snap out of it, babe" I requested of her.

After knocking my girl down I looked around and I saw that Blood's people were all fighting Aquaman's troops. I could have jumped into help as both Shayera and the King of Atlantis knew me, but that didn't mean the soldiers wouldn't shoot me on sight.

This wasn't a concern for long however as I had trouble of my own. Jinx was not making this easy on me. I tried to restrain her but because of her power she could make my tricks go wrong. X's would fly in the wrong direction and she knew enough hand to hand to stop me from knocking her out the old fashioned way.

Not that I was trying that hard to beat her so that left me with only one option. I had to use the power of the Old Ones.

"Nnn- Lloig Uaaad" (Protect, Mind Spell)

It worked like a charm. Jinx's regained control of herself as my spell shielded her mind from Blood's mind control power. I didn't know if she was free now, or just shielded for the time being, but it was better than having to hurt her or letting me get hurt.

"Okay that was weird" Jinx said while shaking her head.

While I wanted to give her time to recover, and to comfort her due to the ordeal, I didn't think there was time for that.

"Hahahahaha!" I then heard Blood say as he ran into his submarine.

I was right, we didn't have the time and if we didn't stop the super crook he would still destroy Jump City even if he lost his base.

"Come on" I said while dragging Jinx towards the submarine.

We got into the submarine just before the hatches all closed and seconds later we were speeding away towards Jump City.

"Follow me" I said to Jinxy.

She did just that and we headed towards the front of the craft as I figured that was where the bridge would be. The sub was much bigger on the inside that I had thought, but thankfully it was not so big that we got turned around.

"I've waited so long for this moment!" I heard a Blood call out.

Without delay I raced onto the bridge.

"Can I help you?" a voice then said from behind me.

I turned around in surprise to see Brother Blood, and he had a sadistic smile on his face. I made a move, but I soon found myself pinned the wall with what I guessed to be telekinetic force.

"How nice of you to join me, X" the Headmaster remarked

With that I dropped to the ground and I tried to attack Blood only he pinned me the wall again.

"I think he's mad at you" commented Jinx.

My girlfriend then tried to fight the Headmaster, but he somehow created a shield that defeated her attacks.

"You can't stop me" the bad guy told us "My submarine will soon reach its target and the computer will fire automatically".

Which meant we had little in the way of time, and when he took out Jinx with a blast of red coloured energy I knew had to do something fast or we would all die.

"Hahaha! X marks the spot!" Blood taunted.

Now it was my turn. Hurting Jinx had been enough to destroy any reservations I had about killing the Headmaster.

"Throd Uaaah" (Tremble. Spell)

The sub shook and that caused Blood to lose his focus enough that I was no longer pinned to the wall. Before he could recover I leaped up into the air and I threw some X stars at him. Blood used his forcefield to block all the shots, but that was fine as I'd known he would do that.

"You can't defeat me X!" Blood taunted.

I kicked Blood in the face just as he tried to grab me. Then I turned around intending to attack once more, but I found myself being thrown out of the bridge and into the part of the sub where the missiles were currently inserting themselves into firing tubes.

When I noticed a nearby computer I started hitting some buttons and image of the missiles showed up, but I was denied a chance to disarm them when I got knocked on my ass yet again.

"Leave him alone!" I heard Jinx shout out.

When Blood turned to face my girlfriend I took out my gun and shot him in the back three times without even thinking about it . The man was wearing armour, but after the third shot he dropped the floor with a loud clang as metal met metal.

I got up and disarmed the WMD's, which was surprisingly easy as the computer offered no barriers. I assumed that Blood hadn't predicted that anyone unfriendly would be inside the submarine.

:Firing Sequence Aborted: a machine voice reported.

This was very good news.

"And Red-X saves the day!" I cheered softly.

My mirth was sadly short lived as the Headmaster was still with us.

"You little punk. I will destroy you!" Blood promised with a snarl.

Being immortal I wasn't much worried about his threats. The worse he could do to me was cause me pain. However rather than do that he turned to Jinx and used his telekinetic powers to choke her.

This enraged me and I threw my magical sickle at her, it morphed into a scythe once it had left my hand but this didn't slow it down, and neither did the shield Blood raised.

The magical weapon went right through the bad guy's defences, and the blade of the scythe went into his chest. It was kind of cool right up until the Headmaster started vomiting up a lot of the red stuff.

Still that didn't stop me from trying to recover the scythe, but before I could I saw Blood use his last moments of life to press some buttons on his wrist band.

:Self Destruct Armed: the machine voice informed as I recovered my weapon :Please Make Your Way To The Nearest Exit:

As there was no count down I just moved as fast as I could. I grabbed Jinx and made my way to the nearest hatch. It was locked, but I could easily handle such things.

Soon we were outside the sub and I called for a pickup over the radio now that the channels were clear. As planned Blackfire had been waiting for us and she was strong enough to both fly Jinxy and me back to Shadow Squad HQ.

Blackfire grabbed us just in time for me to watch the sub explode into a thousand pieces as the sun came up over the horizon. It was a pretty sight to see.