DC Gothic - Red-X 2
Odd Affections
Roof of the Daily Planet. Metropolis.
From up here I could look out at all of Metropolis, which was considered to be one of the greatest cities in the world. I didn't know if that was true, as I hadn't seen that many cities as of yet, but as the sun was setting I admitted to myself that it was impressive looking even after being raided by the evil bitch known as Granny Goodness and a shit load of Parademons.
That fight had been very intense, and while I hadn't needed to join in as I could have left town, having already done the job Lex Luthor had hired me for, which involved a bit of industrial espionage, but I'd wanted to, and it had been fun to just let lose.
I'd not only killed, or at least injured many Parademons, I'd also driven my scythe into the shoulder of Darksied's son, Kalibak while the big brute had been trying to pound Supergirl into a sticky paste.
Unless he'd bled to death after retreating via a Boom Tube, the guy was likely still alive, and while he might come after me I wasn't worried. I was far down his list concerns of that I was sure, and it wasn't as if he would know who Red-X was. Not unless he had some spies here on Earth and he wasn't bright from what I knew.
I had also tried to kill Granny Goodness, but that had ended badly for me as the nasty old woman had blasted me with some sort of energy weapon, and by the time I'd recovered from that all the bad guys had started running away. Still I'd made a small difference.
My trail of thought came when part of my view when I sensed that someone was nearby. I looked to the left and then up a bit in order to see a blonde girl in Superman's colours starting at me.
"Hey there, Beautiful. Come here often?" I asked.
Supergirl had her arms crossed, but I wasn't at all concerned about that as she was smiling at me. Perhaps that had something to do with being caught without mask on. She wouldn't remember what I looked like as since the last time we'd met I'd made my wish, but she would still remember losing to Red-X during the Master of Games' contest.
"I figured I would come and say thank you for helping drive off the bad guys" she as she landed on the roof "And to make sure you're leaving".
Somehow I'd gotten into the habit of overstaying my welcome whenever I left Jump City.
"You're just lucky Superman's not around for a few more days" she then added "He wouldn't let you leave peacefully even if you did help out, but he might at least have given you a head start".
With me that might actually mean something as I was very good at running away from authority figures.
"Yeah Batman made it clear that I was not to visit Gotham ever again" I told the very sexy alien babe "And soon Metropolis too will be out of bounds for me".
Thankfully for me California was a long way from Metropolis, and from what I knew of the Justice League they were content to let the Titans handle me. Not that they could, but since I wasn't going around committing acts of terrorism I doubted I was a high priority for the League. Not now that I had deal with Batman.
"Let's hope you don't ever go back to Gotham" Supergirl warned "If you do tall, dark and broody will bring the founding members of the League down on your head".
The Dark Knight was very territorial.
"I just don't get why" she then "You're just a thief, not a major threat"
This words were shocking to hear.
"I'm surprised to hear say that" I admitted "Most of the people on your team seem to think I'm out to get them".
It would be insanely foolish of me to even try such a thing. Even if I could convince the Shadow Squad to help me take on the League, we didn't have the numbers or the power to succeed. Plus even if we did somehow manage it there would be no left to defend the Earth the next some aliens invaded. So it was doubly foolish.
"I'm blonde, not stupid" Supergirl then said "The world is a complex place, and the people in aren't simply divided into good and evil".
For a teenage girlsshe was rather wise.
"Anyway" she went on the say "You saved me from Kalibak so I'd like to give you a reward".
She kissed me on the cheek and to my surprise I blushed a bit and avoided eye contact. By the time I was willing to look at her again she was long gone and the sun had finally set.
"Damn she's hot" I muttered just before I jumped off the roof.
(Line Break)
Titan Tower. Jump City.
"I'm back bitches!" I yelled as the lift door opened.
Rather than go home directly I'd decided to stop by at the Titan Tower first in order to check on Raven, and to give all the Titan some presents from my trip to Metropolis.
"Red-X!" Robin yelled "How do you get into the Tower?".
It was so very tiresome when he shouted at me.
"The front door" I answered "but I used your underground parking. I hope that's okay".
Apparently it wasn't, but at least he didn't attack me.
"But what about the alarms?" Cyborg inquired "I just finished upgrading the system".
Such things meant nothing to the Prince of Thieves.
"I'm a high tech burglar" I reminded the Titans "Getting past fancy alarms is what I do for a living".
At this point it seemed best to change the subject.
"I came over to give you guys some gifts I picked up in Metropolis" I informed them all "I have Superman plushies, Superman key chains. Superman... well you get the idea".
Starfire and Terra were soon hugging their new stuffed toys.
"And I came to check on Raven" I then mentioned "Is she in her room?".
The room went deathly silent.
"You don't want to go in her room" Beast Boy warned "the horror".
I simply didn't understand what they were so concerned about.
"Look" Robin, or Red Robin as he was now called due to costume change
"I don't like you spending time with Raven. I think she'd be better off if she ever saw you again, but I think someone has to go cheer her up. She's been a bad mood for days now, and its not good for her or the baby to stay cooped up like this".
Beast Boy did not agree.
"Dude you can't send him in there" he protested from behind the couch "No one deserves that"
That made me laugh.
"She's not some demonic creature lying in wait to devour anyone foolish enough to enter her lair" I said to the green coloured hero "Ray's a sweetie you just have to know how to talk her. She's just like another woman".
I assumed he was just being an idiot so I went to Raven's room and knocked on the door. No one replied so I opened it and saw nothing, there was just this creepy darkness.
"Sunshine" I called out "Are you in here, its Daddy".
That was when something wrapped itself around my foot, and I dragged leg first into the darkness.
(Line Break)
Titan Tower. Jump City.
The next thing I saw were a pair of scary glowing eyes, they were red and totally demonic. Also there were tendrils of darkness slithering about. I couldn't see then clearly, but there was no mistaking what they were.
"You did this to me" an evil voice whispered.
As it turned out I should have listened to Beast Boy's warning.
"Now I'm going to make you pay" the voice promised.
Nothing at all happened. The tendrils tried to strike me, however they simply faded away. That was when I remembered that I wearing the Ring of Azar, it protected me from demons.
"Bless you Seeker" I muttered.
I had no how that mysterious man had known that I would need the magical protection. He must of known because the a Ring of Azar wasn't something you could get a jewelry store, he wouldn't have given me unless he'd foreseen something like this happening.
Still even with the protection I wasn't safe. I had to get myself out of trouble, the problem with that was I simply wasn't willing to harem Raven. After all it was my spawn she carrying.
"Raven let me down right now" I said firmly "If you don't I will punish you and there will no cuddles".
To her the no cuddles was a dire threat.
"Like you'd touch me" she said, in a more human sounding voice "Look at me I'm like a walrus".
The tendrils of darkness began to fade away and now I could see something more funny than scary. Raven was wearing maternity clothes, they were blue, but very different from what she normally wore, and once I got over how silly they were I realized that she looked sexy to me. Hopefully that was because she heavily pregnant with my child, and not because I had some hidden fetish.
"I'm fat" she cried as I dropped to the ground.
Now things were making much sense.
"Oh baby" I said as I picked myself up "I think you look great".
She wiped away her tears before speaking again.
"You're not just saying that, are you?" she asked.
I then remembered something else.
"You're the emphatic one" I said "You tell me how I feel".
She began to quickly cheer up, and since she was sensing my arousal it was easy to understand why. Something about her belly and those big boobs were doing it for me.
"Do you really like me in these clothes?" she then asked me.
I just nodded.
"You want lie down with me for a bit?" she then wondered.
I knew where this was going.
"Whose your Daddy?".
I had to hear her say it.
(Line Break)
Shadow Squad HQ. Jump City
Until now I had felt at all guilty about spending the night with Raven, and if not for freaky shit going on at my group's headquarters I doubted I would be feeling it now if everything was fine.
But once I had found out that something strange was going I blamed myself. I should have been here to prevent my team from coming under the insidious mind control of this 'Mother' person.
Earlier I'd called to say that I was on my way back. A women who looked old enough to be Grandmother had answered the call. When I'd asked to speak to Jinx I'd been told that she wasn't allowed to come and play.
Naturally I'd been confused, and suspicious so I'd sneaked into the base and then slipped into the ventilation system that was big enough to crawl around. Having one was a direction violation of the Evil Overlord list, but when you lived underground you needed large air ducts.
"Mother will always be here, children," the strange woman said with a big smile "Are you all full Jinxy?"
I growled softly when I heard the old women call my girlfriend by that name. Only I ever called her that.
"Yes Mother," Jinx smiled contently as the elderly woman wiped her face with a napkin "Thank you Mother".
Now I was freaked out again rather than pissed off.
"I'm not, mother. May I have some more cookies?" See-More asked.
While I could have acted now I decided to bind my time and to gather more information about what was going on.
"Of course, See-See!" Mother said as she made several plates piled with cookies appeared "There you go".
The magic user, she clearly had to be, then turned to Mammoth.
"Look who's filthy wilthy! Mammy needs his bibby!" the old woman said.
A bib that read 'I'm A Big Boy' popped into existence around Mammoth's thick neck, and while that sight alone might require me to undergo therapy I kept my focused. This 'Mother' person used her wand much like a Witch from the Harry Potter books used a wand. Therefore she might be rendered helpless if it was taken from her.
"Thank you Mother Mae-Eye," Mammoth said.
With some effort I ignored the spoken words and wondered what would happen should I just shoot the old lady. If she was a human witch then she could be killed like another mortal. It might take a bit more effect, but I had a lot of fire power and my magical scythe.
"I want my blankie!" Private Hive whined.
Next I thought about this 'Mother' person. I tried to figure out what her motivation could be. She had to be getting something out of this, and I dismissed the idea that she was hear to kill us because if that was the case she could have done about now. My team was helpless.
I briefly considered that she might be some pervert who got her rocks off by making people act like small children, however I suspected that she actually wanted to control the Shadow Squad. If she could do that she'd a group of super powered crooks under her command, that would make her very dangerous.
"Here it is, Privey Hivey," the old woman said as she took out a yellow blanket with a hive pattern on it "Now you're all cosy wosy".
At this point I was mostly fighting not to vomit. This was all way too cutise for my taste.
"What about you, Gizzy? Do you want more cookies" 'Mother' asked.
By now I decided to take action I simply couldn't stand another second of this horror show. Demonic Raven hadn't made me feel this bad.
I slipped out of the ventilation system and softly landed behind the spell caster, a thrown X disarmed her and then I took out my scythe.
"Don't hurt Mother!" Jinx yelled.
A hex bolt hit me and I was blasted into the wall
"You're gonna get spanked!" See-More called out.
Before replying I threw some smoke bombs.
"I do the spanking around here" I said.
Rather than dwell on how stupid that had sounded I switched to thermal and the sought out the 'Mother' lady. Only before I could do that I was tackled from behind by Mammoth, and then lifted into the air.
"No one hurts Mother".
I managed to teleported out of his grip, which was good for my ribs, only to end up nearly getting blasted by Gizmo, who was somehow able to see me despite the smoke. Thankfully for me his aim sucked.
By dumb luck I ended up avoiding one blast only to land in front of the old woman who was frantically looking for her spoon I guessed. Not that it mattered really as Gizmo blasted her with both barrels of his portable laser cannons a split second after I ducked to avoid the attack.
When the smoke cleared only half of the witch was left, and those were legs, and with her death the Shadow Squad returned to normal. Private HIVE and See-More stopped hitting each other. I assumed that they had both thought that I was the other due to all the confusion.
"Where is everyone else?" I asked of Jinx after I took my mask off "Are they okay?".
While the number of people in our gang tended to fluctuate, a few days ago there had been ten so that meant a few of my fellow crooks were missing. I was actually worried about them.
"Mother.. I mean that old lady put them down for naps" my second in command replied "They should be okay".
I had more queries.
"How did this happen?" I demanded to know
Jinx explained that she had gone to a new bakery to get something sweet. The old woman had offered her some free samples and then 'Mother' had turned up inside our Headquarters, and had started feeding people cookies that I suspected were drugged.
"Okay we should check on everyone else" I decided "And then I'll check out what was in the cookies. Hopefully the withdrawal won't be to bad".
Given that team were no longer under the evil witch's control the mind control must have been at least partly magical so I didn't think the team would suffer too badly, but it was best to get Gizmo to run some tests on the baked treats, just to be sure.
"I killed her" the tiny terror said when I attempted to talk to him "I've never killed anyone before".
Had I been a nasty person I would have mentioned that he'd tried to kill people before, and therefore shouldn't be so effected by his one success, but I kept my mouth shut. Killing those who tried to harm me and the folks I cared about was something I could handle, but not everyone was able to deal so easily with taking lives.
This also meant that I would have to handle the investigation as no one seemed to be in a fit state to do anything. I also had to clean up the corpse and do something about all the damage that Gizmo had caused while firing his twin laser cannons.
"Karma is a bit" I muttered.
I was pretty sure that I was being punished for cheating on Jinx, and yet I didn't think it would stop me from doing it again. I just didn't seem to built for monogamy.