DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, this takes place after the fourth season, so anything that happens in the show after that isn't applicable to this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.
O-O-O
After a quick trip home to stash his Red X suit and retrieve his backpack, Sanza headed to school, knowing that he was to meet the Titans at their tower as soon as he got out.
He was late, so he missed most of his first-period class. His second-period class, gym, went rather smoothly. After a spirited game of wiffleball, Sanza went into the boys' locker room to change out of his gym clothes.
"That was a nice triple in the third inning, Sanza," said Sanza's friend Rob, who had mostly forgotten about the events of the past few days. Sanza seemed happier now, especially that he was out of detention and back on good terms with Cleo. "If you'd have hit the ball just a little harder..."
"It's impossible to get a home run in our gym," replied Sanza, removing his gym shirt and putting on a black t-shirt. "You've gotta hit over the first fifteen rows of bleachers... I haven't seen anybody do that all year."
"There's this kid in fourth period that does it all the time," said Rob, applying deodorant under his arms before he put his own shirt back on. "Or so I've heard..."
Sanza continued his conversation with Rob, relishing the opportunity for small talk that he finally was able to have after several days of detention, not to mention fighting the Teen Titans. Gym class was Sanza's favorite class, most likely because it didn't involve any actual paperwork, like all of his other classes. Plus, it gave him the least chances to get into trouble, and because he'd gotten fairly athletic from all his exploits as Red X, he could impress all of his friends with how good he was at the various games, including dodgeball, which he completely dominated. Because if you can dodge a Bat-a-Rang, a Starbolt, or a plasma blast, you can dodge a ball.
After most of the other kids had cleared out of the locker room, including Rob, Sanza put away the last of his gym clothes and walked slowly toward the door.
It was then that he noticed a shadow emerging from one of the showers, just around the corner from the rows of lockers. The shadow's shape was immediately recognizable to Sanza... the shadow belonged to Slade.
"Figures he'd come around here after I disposed of his main man," thought Sanza, making sure everyone else had exited the locker room before slowly walking back to the showers. "I bet Slade's pissed off..."
Sanza turned the corner and walked into one of the damp, tile shower rooms. There, standing by the wall with his hand on the top of the shower spigot was Slade, looking directly into Sanza's eyes.
"You get held back twenty years, or what?" asked Sanza, using a joke to conceal his growing nervousness. He had no idea how Slade would react to Sorel's death.
"Looks like your jokes aren't nearly as good as your fighting skills," replied Slade, his hand dropping from the shower spigot. "That was an impressive display you put on last night."
"Impressive?" thought Sanza, not believing what he was hearing. Certainly Slade would be a lot angrier than this. "That's not what I expected..."
"I told Sorel to show a bit more restraint in dealing with your family, but instead, he decided to take matters into his own hands, and it cost him his life. Sanza, you and I have a partnership. You work for me, I leave your family alone."
"Sorel certainly didn't understand the terms of our agreement then," said Sanza, his fists clenching. "He sent your robots into my house, and-"
"Rest assured, that won't happen again," replied Slade, walking up to Sanza and looking straight down at him, towering nearly a foot and a half over the teenage boy. "As far as I'm concerned, you passed all the tests with flying colors... apprentice."
Sanza took a step back, an angry look reflected in his face. He still had no desires to be Slade's apprentice, and certainly not after the man's lieutenant had attacked his family. Did Slade know that Sanza had forged a deal with the Teen Titans? Is that what this conversation was really about?
"I infiltrated the Teen Titans," said Sanza, a sly smile forming on his face. "They think I have an alliance with them."
"...interesting," Slade replied, "though I didn't tell you to forge such an alliance in the first place."
"Ah, but didn't your last apprentice nearly destroy the Titans by infiltrating their tower?" Sanza asked. "Terra was her name, I believe..."
The mention of Terra's name brought a brief swell of rage within Slade, as he remembered the apprentice who'd betrayed him so violently in the past. Because of Terra, he'd lost his life... and had to go to the depths of Hell to regain it. Sanza was treading thin ice by invoking Terra's name... and Slade couldn't help but think that Sanza too may betray him in a similar fashion.
But unlike Terra, who had nothing to lose by betraying Slade, Sanza had a mother and sister to protect. Should Sanza ever try to stab Slade in the back, the death of Sanza's family would be swift retribution. Even Sanza wasn't foolish enough to put his family's life at risk. But that he'd infiltrated the Teen Titans so quickly... Slade was skeptical.
"Exactly... how did you infiltrate them?" asked Slade. "How did you make them gain your trust?"
"I told them everything," replied Sanza, knowing that he was taking a huge risk by revealing his plans to Slade. "How you blackmailed me and my family, why I stole the suit... I even showed them my face."
Sanza smiled.
"And they believed it!" said Sanza. "They believed the whole thing... then I told them that they could work with me to destroy you. But what they don't know is that when they least expect it... I'll kill all of them in their sleep."
The ruthlessness of Sanza's plan was incredible, even for someone like Slade. The deaths of the Teen Titans would certainly be something that Slade himself couldn't even accomplish... and the Titans trusted Sanza so easily. Too easily... Slade was still skeptical.
"And you truly believe that after all Terra put them through, they'll trust a rogue like you?" asked Slade. "After just one day?"
"Like Terra, I'll build their trust in me by training with them and fighting a few battles. You'll see, Slade... when I get through with them, they won't know what hit them," said Sanza. "And then you and I can rule the city together, as apprentice and master."
Slade reached down to his belt and pulled out five small syringes, each filled with a silver liquid. He handed them to Sanza, who looked at them with a puzzled glare.
"Will these... kill them?" asked Sanza. Slade shook his head.
"These will simply monitor their vital signs and positions," said Slade, his arms crossed over his chest. "Also, it will enable me to hear everything they say, and see everything that they see. The needles of the syringes are painless... all you have to do is give each of them a light prick, and the serum will quickly be injected, without their knowledge. Once you've done that, return to me and report on your progress."
Sanza placed the syringes in his pocket and turned away from Slade, leaving the showers without a word.
"Also," said Slade, loud enough for Sanza to hear as he left, "if in twenty-four hours, the serum has not been injected... I'll be contacting you. And while I won't be as quick to attack your family as Sorel was, any deviation from the plan could still have consequences, both for them and for you. Remember that, Sanza..."
"And remember what happened to Sorel," thought Sanza, leaving the showers and walking past rows of lockers to the locker room exit. "You hurt my family... and you'll end up just like he did."
O-O-O
The rest of the school day came and went with no further interference from Slade. Though Sanza was relieved that Slade hadn't berated him for attacking Sorel, he still continued to worry about the latest task Slade had given him. Slade now knew that the Titans were privy to his threats against Sanza's family. Would Slade actually believe that Sanza was going to betray the Titans? Or would Slade punish Sanza for plotting with the Titans against him?
After school, Sanza rushed back home to see his family before putting on his Red X suit and heading over to Titans Tower. He hadn't seen them face-to-face since he left the previous night to face down Robin at the church. He especially wanted to speak to Maddy, who probably suffered the most from her attack at the hands of the Sladebots. He entered his home through the front door of the second floor of the apartment building, then walked through the kitchen to the living room, where Maddy was sitting and watching Dr. Phil. As soon as she saw Sanza, she ran over and wrapped her arms tightly around him.
"Sanza, I was so worried about you last night..." said Maddy, her face buried in her brothers' chest. "Those bad men attacked, and then-"
"I went to get help," replied Sanza, a convenient lie, "but I'm sorry that-"
"You know what?" said Maddy, releasing Sanza from the hug and smiling. "I bet it was because the robots saw you leave that they didn't hurt us! Because they KNEW you'd get the Teen Titans to come rescue us... right?"
"The Teen Titans..." thought Sanza, rolling his eyes. "Doesn't she remember who saved her at the fair?"
"I mean, you're probably friends with them... aren't you? Do they go to your school, Sanza?"
"I don't wanna hear about the Teen Titans," replied Sanza. "And no, they don't go to my school. They don't go to any school."
"Aww... I just thought you knew 'em personally or something," said Maddy, walking back over to her chair and sitting down just as Dr. Phil returned from a commercial break. "Well, I'm glad to see you safe, Sanza..."
"Yeah... me too, Maddy," said Sanza, walking over and kissing his little sister on the forehead. She giggled as she was kissed, then gently nudged Sanza out of her way, as he was blocking her view of the TV.
"Go do big brother stuff," said Maddy, her eyes more focused on the screen than her brother Sanza. Sanza took the hint, strolling out of the living room and climbing the stairs to his own room. "Mom went to get some milk, she'll be back whenever."
"One minute she's happy to see me, the next she's watching Dr. Phil like nothing happened..." thought Sanza, shaking his head. "At least she's not traumatized from what happened... she's so tough for her age."
Sometimes, Sanza wished he could bounce back from things like Maddy could. Unfortunately, if he didn't follow Slade's instructions, Maddy wouldn't bounce back from anything.
"Time to get to work," thought Sanza, as he started slipping the Red X costume over his clothes.
O-O-O
Red X had decided not to inform the Teen Titans about the syringes... if they knew that he was receiving assignments from Slade, they might not trust him... and he wasn't all too sure that they trusted him already.
"Robin says we have a deal," thought Red X, as he walked up onto the shores of the island where Titans Tower was located. "That should be good enough for me... but one can never be too sure."
Whether he would actually obey Slade's instructions to inject the syringes or not was something that Red X still didn't know. For all he knew, the liquid inside them could in fact be lethal, and he could be unwittingly killing the Teen Titans by injecting them.
But he told Slade he could kill the Titans in their sleep... certainly, Slade had enough confidence in him to trust him to do the job without the need for deception. Then again, Slade couldn't trust his two previous apprentices either...
Red X knocked on the door of the Tower. It opened up, and a serious-looking Robin was standing on the other side.
"You gonna stand there, or are you gonna let me in?" asked Red X, in as friendly a voice as he could muster. "I'm not doing this for my health."
Robin stepped out of the way, and Red X quickly walked in past him, into the main room of the tower. In front of him stood the other four Teen Titans, Starfire at the head of the group with a bright, welcoming smile on her face.
"It is wonderful to see you again!" said Starfire, happily walking over to Red X. A few days ago, she never would've ever considered smiling at him... but now that he knew that she'd forgiven him, she felt as if a great weight had been taken off her own chest... and though she knew that Red X was a thief, perhaps if she showed him friendship, he would be more willing to join the Titans full-time. "Please, come this way!"
Her hand gripped around Red X's gloved fingers, and she half-led, half-tugged him out of the room and down a series of long hallways.
"Where are we going?" asked Red X as Starfire pulled him along. "And if my arm breaks, you're in serious trouble..."
"We set up a training area behind the tower," said Cyborg, following Red X and Starfire along with Robin and the others. "We know that you'd probably do pretty well on the obstacle course, so we're just going to skip right to the partners training."
"Partners training?" asked Red X. He was still being quickly led along by Starfire, who seemed determined to bring him to the back of the tower in record time.
"We told you, if you're going to work as part of this team, you need to learn how to perform with your teammates," replied Robin, still slightly surprised that he was using the word teammate to refer to Red X. "So we're going to teach you a few moves that'll help you work better with the team."
"And I can't just fight with you guys by myself... why?" asked Red X, slightly annoyed.
"Part of forming a bond of trust with your teammates is learning to utilize them in your battle moves," said Starfire, briefly stopping to explain the motivation behind 'team training' to Red X. "If you are simply fighting by yourself, you may be fighting with a team, but not fighting as a team."
"Starfire's right," said Robin. "Some of the best and most effective Teen Titan attacks are team maneuvers. What truly makes us a team is that we enhance each other's capabilities in battle."
Red X rolled his eyes under the mask. All of this training seemed unnecessary. Why the Titans couldn't just go and fight Slade now was completely beyond his comprehension. He was strong enough to nearly beat the Titans by himself... he and the Titans working together against Slade should already be an unstoppable force, right?
"Fine," Red X sighed, resigning himself to a training session. "Lead the way..."
Instead of taking Red X's hand this time, Starfire floated slowly down the hallway, expecting Red X to follow her. He did, slightly disappointed that Starfire wasn't pulling him by the arm again, though relieved that he wasn't going to have so much stress on his limb. He walked down another hallway before entering a corridor with a large, metallic gate at the end. Starfire walked over to the gate's control console and pressed three buttons, opening the door and exposing Red X and the Titans to a bright burst of sunshine from the outside.
"Here we are!" said Starfire, floating through the open gate. Red X followed her out, along with the other four Titans. The gate closed quickly behind them, and Red X looked out to see Starfire standing on the top of a wide, rocky plateau, overlooking the beautiful bay beyond the tower. The plateau was enormous in size, nearly as large as two football fields pressed tightly together. On the plateau were what appeared to be white chalk lines, denoting apparent boundaries in the makeshift training arena. Though it was barren except for the lines, underneath its surface, powerful mechanisms were at work.
"This is... your training area?" asked Red X, stepping out onto the plateau and surveying his surroundings. "I thought it would be inside... but the scenery is nice..."
"We have other training facilities within the tower, but this is what we mostly use for field-testing scenarios," said Robin, pointing to a large control console on top of a second level of the plateau that could be accessed by a short, rocky stairway. "That controls the different types of obstacles and field conditions."
"It makes hurdles, lasers, and rain," replied Raven, overly simplifying Robin's description. "Or any combination thereof."
Hurdles, lasers, and rain didn't sound all that impressive to Red X, who'd dealt with hundreds of obstacles in his months of thievery. He began to wonder if the simulator could come up with a holographic version of Slade... something to take all of his frustrations out on.
"So, X... are you ready to get started?" asked Robin, walking up to the control console and positioning himself behind it. "We'll start out with a basic battle scenario... try to work with the rest of the team to destroy the enemies."
Red X looked around at the other Titans, who were already preparing themselves to battle. Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg... and finally Starfire, whose eyes and hands were glowing bright green.
"We're ready, dude!" shouted Beast Boy, already thinking about what animals he would be transforming into.
Robin turned several knobs on the console, raising several large, metallic columns up from the floor of the battle arena. The columns would serve as barriers and hiding places, both for the Titans and for their opponents.
"Aren't you going to be fighting too?" asked Red X, watching as Robin continued to work the controls at the console.
"I'll stay up here and try and make it a bit harder for you," replied Robin, briefly smiling down at Red X. "I know someone like you can handle it."
"So does that make me the leader, then, since you're up there in computer geek mode?" asked Red X, eliciting a brief annoyed glare from Raven.
"Just try to work together as a team," instructed Robin, as several spider-shaped bots about a two feet tall and three feet wide started to appear. "Don't think about leaders, just think about what's best for the team."
Before Red X could say anything more, one of the spider bots leapt into the air, straight at the head of Cyborg. Cyborg lifted his arm cannon to blast away the spider, only to have Red X hit it in the side with an exploding X, blowing it away before Cyborg got the chance. Another spider leaping at Beast Boy met the same fate, exploding before Beast Boy could transform.
"Is that it?" shouted Red X, looking around to see seven more spider bots forming a wide circle around him and the four training Titans. "Training's gotta be tougher than this..."
"Do you not remember what Robin said?" scolded Starfire, her happy smile curled into an angry frown. "We are to work as a team to-"
"Team shmeam, I'm going all out," shouted Red X, pointing his palms at two more spider bots and firing explosive Xs at them. The two spiders linked two of their legs, spitting out a strange white substance that morphed into an energy web. The web sucked up not only Red X's projectiles, but also the thief himself, collapsing over him before detonating in a bright orange explosion.
"You can't just defeat them with the same trick, you've gotta change it up!" shouted Beast Boy, transforming into a tiger as he leapt into the air, attacking the two spiders who'd just turned Red X's own attack back on him. As he did, Raven extended her arms and began to chant.
"Azarath, metreon, zinthos!" shouted Raven, wrapping dark energy around all four of tiger Beast Boy's legs. The energy propelled him through the air at an incredible speed, enabling him to tackle the two spider bots before they could attack. He pounced on both of them at once, smashing them to pieces.
"See?" asked Starfire, gently helping Red X up from the ground. "Teamwork is-"
"For losers!" shouted Red X, running away from Starfire and toward another one of the spider bots. His palm lit up, and he fired out a sticky, goo-filled X that affixed itself to the spider, expanding and burying the robot in red slime. Suddenly, the robot flashed bright green, shooting a beam out of the goo that slammed into Red X's chest, knocking him hard to the ground. "What the..."
The robot carved itself out of the goo with the beam before firing another powerful green laser at Red X, nearly hitting him as he stood up and ran sideways, right into the line of fire of another of the spider bots.
"Look out!" warned Cyborg, slamming into the side of Red X and knocking him to the ground. As he did, the spider leapt forward, tackling Cyborg and wrapping all eight of its metallic legs around the huge robot's chest.
"What the hell are you doing?" thought Red X, rubbing his head and slowly standing up. He saw the spider bot with its powerful legs wrapped around Cyborg's chest, and began to chuckle. "Serves you right for-"
"Had he not pushed you out of the way, it would have been you in the grasp of the spider robot!" berated Starfire, pointing at Cyborg's predicament. "You will show your gratitude by helping him es-"
Suddenly, a glowing white web strand shot out from one of the spider bots, wrapping around Starfire's arms and chest and pulling her backward. She let out a scream, struggling violently in the spider's grasp as more and more of its energy web wrapped around her body. Ignoring Cyborg's plight, Red X angrily turned toward the spider and began blasting it with multiple exploding Xs, only to have the Xs explode against a blue energy shield protecting the spider bot from attack.
"Shit!" thought Red X, watching as the spider bot's energy strands began wrapping over Starfire's shoulders and neck. He fired several shuriken Xs at the spider bot, but they too were blocked by the shields, much to X's dismay.
"I could've gotten her out of there..." thought Robin, watching as X futilely tried to free Starfire from the spider bot's grasp. He knew that the simulation couldn't actually hurt Starfire, but he was annoyed that Red X's brashness was preventing Starfire from being rescued. "X, you can't stop the robot by yourself!"
"We'll see about that!" shouted Red X, running toward the spider bot and leaping down on it with a powerful kick. His foot slammed against the shield, knocking him backward and leaving the spider bot completely unharmed.
"Help!" screamed Starfire, unable to use her Starbolts on the robot with her arms wrapped up. "Hel...mmmph!"
The energy thread began wrapping around Starfire's mouth, muffling her shouts for help. Again, Red X stood up and began trying to blast the spider with explosive Xs, only to have them once again run up against its shield.
"This is ridiculous!" shouted Red X, suddenly leaping back as a blue beam flew past him and slammed directly into the spider's shield, causing the shield to instantly fizzle out.
"Now attack him!" shouted Cyborg, his arm cannon pointed at the de-shielded spider. "Before its shield reforms!"
Red X fired another exploding X, which slammed into the back of the spider, creating an explosion that destroyed it and disintegrated the threads wrapped around Starfire's body. She was thrown forward, landing hard on her knees on the rocky ground.
"That was... excellent teamwork...!" gasped Starfire, looking up and smiling at Red X and Cyborg. Suddenly, she saw two spiders rising up behind them, and quickly sprung into action. Her eyes lit up bright green, and she floated up, firing her eye lasers at the two spider bots and quickly turning them both to scrap. "That should be the last of them..."
Red X quickly looked around, surveying the roof for any sign of remaining spider bots. Starfire was right, all the drones had been destroyed.
"Good work, guys," said Robin, tweaking a knob and opening up holes in the floor to suck up any remaining spider bot parts.
"Whatever," thought Red X, glancing up at Robin and staring into his eyes. "Is that the best you've got? I didn't learn anything from that. I thought we were going to fight Slade, not a few crappy little spider robots. So unless you can get Slade on that thing..."
Suddenly, Robin's eyes narrowed, and he pressed several buttons on the control console. Almost immediately, a familiar figure seemed to form out of thin air... a perfect facsimile of Slade, from his physique, to his mask, to his voice.
"Is this Slade enough for you, Sanza?" asked the Slade simulation, its voice beckoning Red X into a quick and furious charge. As soon as Red X was within striking distance, the Slade simulation reared back its fist... and slammed it directly into Red X's face, knocking him to the ground.
Though Red X was physically unharmed, the pain was completely real... and he lifted his hand up to his nose, which felt like it had been broken by the force of the punch.
"You said... this thing... couldn't hurt any of us!" shouted Red X, furiously looking past the Slade simulation to Robin. "What the hell?"
"Sensors built into the floor transmit pain sensations through our nerves," replied Raven. "So when we take a punch in here..."
"We feel it," said Cyborg, finishing Sanza's sentence. The Slade simulation disappeared into the floor, but Red X didn't want to stop fighting.
"Bring it back," said Red X, tightly clenching his fists. "Bring the simulation back..."
Robin was surprised by Red X's request, especially after seeing the pain that the simulation had caused with its first punch. Could Red X be angry at the simulation, associating it with Slade, the person who'd caused him so much trouble? The simulation wasn't even half as strong as the real Slade was, all the Titans had been able to beat it one-on-one...
"Are you sure?" asked Robin, preparing to bring back the Slade simulation.
"Yeah, man, it's a lot weaker than the original Slade..." said Beast Boy, also confused by Red X's desire to bring back the Slade simulation. "That punch might've hurt, but that's just because you were surprised."
"I said bring it back," replied Red X, gritting his teeth. "I'd never let the real Slade get the best of me... and this thing is no different!"
"We shall all fight the simulation, together..." said Starfire, smiling at Red X. "It will help us with our teamwork skills... correct?"
"I'm not worried about teamwork," thought Red X, narrowing his eyes at Robin. "I'm going to pummel this damn simulation..."
Suddenly, all five of the Titans' communicators began to ring. Training, it seemed, would have to wait... there was trouble in the city.
"Sorry, but we've gotta go," said Robin, hopping down from the control console. Red X was clearly disappointed by not getting to fight the Slade simulation, and there was no way the Titans would trust him to remain at the tower by himself. "The city's under attack."
"The city's always under attack," grumbled Red X, his arms at his sides. "I suppose you want me to come help out, huh?"
"If you wish..." said Starfire.
The Titans ran out of the training area, and Red X followed them, remembering the five syringes that Slade had placed in his pocket.
"While they're distracted with fighting whatever or whoever is attacking the city, I'll be able to inject all of 'em with this stuff..." thought Red X, still disappointed that he didn't get to battle the Slade simulation. He still wasn't sure if the Titans entirely trusted him, and knew that if his plan to inject them all with Slade's serum was found out, he'd have absolutely no chance of regaining their trust.
And if he didn't have their trust, he'd be on his own against Slade...
O-O-O
The Titans and Red X traveled downtown in the T-Car. Because of space limitations, Beast Boy had to transform into a mouse and sit in Red X's lap in the back seat.
"If you have to use the restroom, I'll throw you out the window," warned Red X, eliciting a squeak from mouse Beast Boy, looking up at him with wide eyes. "I'm serious."
Suddenly, a huge chunk of brick fell down right in front of the T-Car, slamming into the street below and throwing up a large cloud of dust. The T-Car immediately slammed on its brakes, and the Titans, along with Red X, climbed out to see an enormous black robot crossing the street. It was a huge metallic beast with a large, black, spherical head from which six long, metallic tendrils drooped down to the streets below. The tendrils served as both arms and legs for the robot, which would occasionally swing one of them into a building, causing heavy damage. As it crossed the street, it also fired large, orange lasers at the people and cars below, creating explosions wherever the lasers landed.
"Okay, is that supposed to be an octopus, a squid, or..."
As Beast Boy tried to discern the robot's shape, it fired a laser down at him, which he barely blocked by transforming into a turtle and quickly retracting into his shell.
"I think the word you're looking for is 'monster', Beast Boy," said Raven, floating up into the air and using her telekinesis to take control of two of the giant robot's tendrils. The affected tendrils turned solid black, rising up helplessly in the air as Raven controlled them with her mind. "Azarath, metreon, zinthos!"
The tendrils rushed back toward the robot's head, as Raven hoped to destroy the giant mechanical beast with its own legs. Her hopes were dashed when a laser emerged from the robot's head, destroying both controlled legs and sending debris crashing to the ground.
"That wasn't too smart," said Cyborg, running under the robot and shooting laser beams at the underside of its spherical head, while Starfire blasted it with Starbolts from above. "It just destroyed its own legs!"
"It would've been killed if it hadn't," said Red X, tossing three exploding Xs onto the robot from below.
"Hey man, the explosion's gonna be too close!" shouted Cyborg, ducking as the Xs detonated with a blast that engulfed everything beneath the robot, including Red X, who instinctively rolled out of the way. Cyborg, who was caused in the blast, wasn't quite so lucky, and his backside was scorched by the resultant fireball. "Aaaaaagh!"
"You shoulda ducked faster," said Red X, cursing as the explosion dissipated and revealed he'd done no damage to the robot. "Looks like I'll have to try something else..."
"What were you thinking?" shouted Robin, dodging one of the robot's legs as it slammed down to the ground between him and Red X. "Cyborg could've been seriously hurt!"
"And that's my problem because...?" Red X said, leaping onto the robot's leg and running up the side, all the way up to the top before taking out another one of his Xs and pasting it to the leg's smooth, metallic surface. The X shot out a localized EMP pulse, shorting out and detaching the leg and sending both it and Red X plummeting to the street below. "Three legs gone, only three more to go..."
Red X hopped off the detached leg and tossed shuriken Xs at its underside, hoping to hit a vulnerable point. Above the robot, Starfire continued to bombard its surface with Starbolts and eye lasers, all the while dodging spherical energy balls launched by turrets on the top of the robot. She could see a green flash out of the corner of her eye, and knew immediately that Beast Boy, transformed into a falcon, was flying up to help her out. He transformed as a gorilla and dropped onto the top of the robot, pounding its thick top with his powerful fists.
"Beast Boy, try to create a weak point in the robot's hull so that I can fire Starbolts to damage its circuitry," said Starfire, continuing to have little luck with blasting the bot's metallic skin. "Right now, I am currently unable to penetrate it..."
Down below, Raven had taken control of the robot's remaining three tendrils, lifting them up to try and force the robot off balance. Instead, it simply regenerated its destroyed tendrils, which all shot out at once, nearly smashing Robin, Red X, and Cyborg below.
"It can regenerate its limbs?" thought Raven, the surprise causing her to lose her concentration. "What kind of technology is-"
The side of one of the robot's legs slammed hard into Raven's chest, knocking her to the ground. As she lay vulnerable on the pavement, the leg lifted above her chest and slammed downward, preparing to smash her. Before it could, it was stopped cold by a large, flexible X, forming a barrier that acted like a large spring that absorbed the impact of the leg and bounced it and the robot backwards.
"You should be more careful, little lady," said Red X, extending a hand to help the blue-cloaked Titan to her feet. In his other hand, he held one of Slade's syringes, just behind his back and out of Raven's view. "I get to help a lady and complete part of my mission at the same time... not a bad deal at all..."
"Th...thanks," Raven replied, accepting Red X's help and slowly being pulled to her feet. As Red X moved to prick Raven with the syringe, both he and Raven were hit by a powerful orange laser that threw both of them hard to the ground, nearly knocking the syringe from Red X's hand.
"Dammit, I was so close!" thought Red X, angrier about losing his opportunity to inject Raven with Slade's serum than he was about being blasted. He stood up and saw the robot preparing to fire another blast, this time point-blank at his head.
A black energy shield hastily erected in front of Red X stopped the blast, which exploded harmlessly against the barrier.
"You're welcome," said Raven, lowering her hands to remove the barrier as the blast ended. "Now help me look for a weakness!"
While Raven and Red X were forming an impromptu alliance, Robin and Cyborg teamed up to attack the joints of the robot's legs, attempting to destroy them faster than they could regenerate. While Robin threw bombs at the joints, Cyborg hit them with a powerful concussion blast, forming the duo's familiar 'sonic boom' combo attack. The blasts did nothing but annoy the robot, which began focusing its lasers under its body to fire down on Robin and Cyborg.
Above the robot, the aerial assault from Starfire and gorilla Beast Boy continued. Starfire was now concentrating on blasting the turrets around Beast Boy while he pounded away at the top of the robot, trying to make a hole for Starfire to blast into.
"I can't believe this thing!" thought Beast Boy, repeatedly ramming his furry fists into the robot's hard, metallic shell. "Usually most machines are destroyed after a few seconds of this, but this one's different somehow... whoever built this thing really did his homework..."
A glowing energy ball slammed into gorilla Beast Boy's chest, exploding and knocking him high into the air. Before he slammed back into the top of the robot, he was caught by Starfire, who apologized as she lowered Beast Boy back onto the robot's surface.
"I should have been faster in destroying the turrets..." said Starfire, reaching out and blasting another one of them as it began to charge up. "They are coming out too fast to be destroyed... unless we find a weakness soon, we will be overwhelmed!"
O-O-O
Red X and the Titans weren't the only ones who had a vested interest in the fight. Watching from the tower at the center of Tekita Refinery was the robot's creator, Slade... who had sent the robot not only to gauge Red X and the Teen Titans' abilities, but to perform another, far more sinister function.
"You'll see why I gave you those syringes soon enough," thought Slade, eagerly staring at the screen. "And you're right, Sanza... I don't trust you. You have to earn my trust, just like everyone else..."
O-O-O
"We have to keep this thing from regenerating its legs," said Raven, looking at Red X and standing under the robot, across the street from Robin and Cyborg. "I don't suppose you have any gadgets to do that, do you?"
"If I did, I would've used one..." said Red X, leaping away from the robot as one of its large legs swung down between himself and Raven. "Right now, I don't see any sign of a weakness..."
"Look harder," said Raven, blasting the underside of the robot with an ineffective energy blast.
"Hey, you remember," said Red X, starting to get annoyed. "I've got a gadget to shut you up!"
With a look that told Red X that she wasn't intimidated by his latest threat, Raven flew up along the side of the robot and joined Starfire and Beast Boy in the battle on top of its head. That left Robin, Cyborg, and Red X underneath its spherical frame, dodging tendrils and orange laser beams.
"You tried shorting this thing out?" asked Robin, turning to Red X while slamming his bo staff into the robot's underbelly.
"Its legs can be shorted out, but the main body can't," replied Red X, who'd tried pasting ten EMP Xs on the frame at once, with no effect. "I'm really starting to get frustrated with this thing..."
On top of the robot, Starfire and Raven continued neutralizing the turrets as Beast Boy tried a new tactic to knock out its power supply. He transformed into a swift peregrine falcon and divebombed it from above, trying his best to cause damage with his sharp beak.
Instead, he nearly broke his beak slamming into the robot's frame, creating not so much as a single crack. He immediately detransformed, his hands tightly clasped over his nose.
"Don't blame me, I didn't tell you to try that," said Raven, using her energy shield to block a string of shots headed straight for herself and Starfire. Though she did feel sorry for Beast Boy's injured nose, she felt far more annoyed that he would actually attempted such a boneheaded maneuver.
"We will have to try something else!" shouted Starfire, slamming her palms down onto the top of the robot's frame and radiating Starbolt energy from her hands. "Perhaps if I do this long enough, I can overheat its circuitry..."
Quickly, the energy began heating up the robot, weakening the metal in the spot directly underneath Starfire's hands. She could feel the integrity of the bot's hull beginning to give, and intensified her energy, focusing directly on that one vulnerable spot.
The robot, however, had other plans in mind. Perturbed by the heat, it swung one of its powerful tendrils up toward the top of its head. Starfire quickly leapt out of the way, and the leg smashed down onto the heated spot, creating a small, fist-sized hole in the top of the robot's frame.
"Starfire, you did it!" Raven shouted up to her now-smiling friend, who immediately floated down and charged a Starbolt to fire into the hole.
"Way to go, Starfire!" shouted Beast Boy, lifting his hands from his nose and pumping them in the air.
Starfire's victory was short-lived. Before she could fire a single Starbolt into the hole she'd created, the robot's tendril wrapped around her arms, pinning them helplessly to her sides and swinging the Tamaranian girl high up in the air.
Starfire's scream alerted Robin, Cyborg, and Red X, who rushed out from under the robot and looked up.
"STARFIRE!" shouted Robin, running toward the leg that the robot had wrapped around Starfire. It was at an angle too steep to climb, but that didn't stop Robin from assailing it with a flurry of swings from his bo staff, which proved ineffective even before the robot lifted up its leg, out of Robin's reach.
"You will let me go immediately!" shouted Starfire, blasting her eye lasers at the leg of the robot and trying to force it to release its grip. The eye lasers did no damage whatsoever, and only caused the robot to tighten its hold around Starfire's arms and chest.
"You heard the lady, let her go," said Red X, shooting up one of his EMP Xs at the joint between the robot and the leg holding Starfire. The EMP X began glowing, and blue sparks around the robot's leg indicted that it had began to short out. Red X breathed a sigh of relief. "YES!"
Suddenly, Starfire let out another loud scream. Now that the leg was holding her, it had something to channel the excess electrical energy into... and instead of shorting out the robot's leg, Red X's EMP attack had shocked Starfire... severely.
"What were you doing?" shouted a now enraged Robin, storming toward Red X and getting right up in his face. "Because of your carelessness, Starfire got hurt!"
"You want to save her?" shouted Red X, his voice equally loud and angry. "You keep talking about all this... this teamwork crap, right? If we're going to save Starfire, we're going to have to work together!"
By now, the hole on the top of the robot had repaired itself, rendering Raven or Beast Boy unable to do any damage from above. Starfire was fading fast in the robot's grasp, and Cyborg's arm cannon blast was doing nothing to damage the robot's formidable tendrils.
Red X was right, though Robin hated to admit it. It seemed that X had seen the error in trying to work by himself, and was ready to come together as part of the team. And a plan was quickly forming in Robin's head...
Robin pointed his Batcable up at the bottom of the robot's leg and fired, extending a line nearly fifty feet in the air as the hook at the end of Robin's cable wrapped around the metallic limb.
"Climb up my Batcable and see if you can pry Starfire loose," said Robin, looking at Red X. "I'll be up right behind you."
Red X nodded, leaping up and starting his long climb up Robin's Batcable. Before he even got ten feet in the air, one of the robot's powerful orange lasers shot at him, nearly knocking him off.
"I'm a sitting duck up here!" Red X shouted.
"The sooner you climb up the cable, the sooner you'll be out of harm's way... and the sooner you'll be able to reach Starfire!" shouted Robin, trying to appeal to Red X's crush. Robin's words worked, because Red X climbed the cable twice as quickly, making it to the top of the cable and the bottom of the robot's leg. He quickly formed two sticky Xs in his hands, climbing up the side of the robot's leg and up to where Starfire was being suspended in the robot's grasp. She was still struggling, trying to press her palms against the side of the robot's leg in order to heat it up and weaken its structural integrity as she'd done to the robot's hull.
"I need your assistance!" shouted Starfire as Red X crawled along the robot's leg, right up next to her.
"I can see that," Red X said, trying to pry Starfire loose from the tighty-wrapped tendril.
"No," said Starfire, shaking her head. Her trapped right hand was waving wildly, glowing with green Starbolt energy. "Not that kind of assistance... please, take my hand... I believe I can focus my energy into your suit."
"Star, I'm here to help!" shouted Robin, using his Batcable to leap onto the top of the robot's leg, next to Red X.
Starfire smiled at Robin before turning back to Red X and continuing her instructions.
"The heat from my Starbolt energy can weaken the robot... if you put it into one of your Xs, I believe you can use it to melt away the robot's leg and extricate me from its grasp..." said Starfire, her voice weakening as the grip of the robot's leg tightened around her chest, starting to cut off her air supply. "Hurry!"
Red X nodded, wrapping his hand tightly around Starfire's and allowing her energy to flow into the arm of his suit. His hand quickly began warming up, almost burning beneath the suit.
"I hope this doesn't take too much longer..." thought Red X, wincing as the stinging heat from Starfire's energy entered his body.
"There, that should be enough," said Starfire, gently releasing Red X's hand. "Now hurry, before-"
Suddenly, the robot thrust its leg downward, causing both Robin and Red X to lose their balance. While Red X held on to the side of the robot's leg for dear life, Robin fell entirely. Reaching out as much as the robot's leg would allow her to, Starfire caught Robin's hand in hers, barely maintaining her grip.
"HOLD ON!" shouted Starfire, as Robin's fingers tenuously began slipping from her grasp. "Please, do not fall!"
"Starfire!" Robin shouted back, looking up into her eyes. "I trust you... you won't let me fall..."
Red X struggled to keep his grip on the robot's leg, using one arm to hold on while the other arm, charged with Starfire's energy, slapped the side of the robot's leg, forming an X that began glowing bright green, burning with heat energy. The heat quickly melted the tip of the robot's leg away, sending Starfire, Red X, and Robin falling quickly to the pavement below.
Without the robot's electrical energy flowing into it, the portion of leg wrapped around Starfire's arms could no longer keep its strength, and Starfire easily snapped it, freeing her arms and enabling her to dive toward Robin and Red X, catching them both before gently floating down to the ground.
She set the two of them upright before turning away to rub her slightly bruised arms. Robin was the first to check on her, walking around to face her and bringing his hand up to her cheek.
"Starfire..." Robin said, genuine concern in his voice. "Are you..."
"I am undamaged," Starfire replied with a smile. "Thank you both for assisting me..."
Red X was now in prime position, a syringe held in his hand. He slowly brought it up to the back of Starfire's neck, hoping that he'd be able to inject her without anyone noticing.
"I'm sorry, Starfire... I promise this won't hurt..."
The robot suddenly took on a bright, orange glow, baffling Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy as they stood under its spherical hull. Robin and Starfire were also confused, turning to stare at it and forcing Red X to once again hide the syringe, reaching down for his pocket.
It was then that the syringe in his hand exploded, releasing a concentrated burst of heat and energy that seared Red X's hand, sending waves of pain shooting through his entire arm. He let out a howl of pain, immediately drawing Starfire's attention.
"X, are you all rig-"
Before Starfire could finish, all four syringes in Red X's pocket exploded, scalding his hip and bringing him to his knees, smoke rising from his waist as trickles of blood began pouring from his side.
The pain was nothing, however, compared to the shock he sustained when the horrible truth of the contents of Slade's serum were dramatically revealed to him.
"That... if that would've been inside them, it would have killed them!" thought Red X, grimacing in pain as he held his hand to his side. "Slade was going to kill them!"
O-O-O
"So, you didn't inject the syringes like I asked you to..." said Slade, his hands clasped in front of him. "Of course, instead of twenty-four hours, I should have given you eight... but that's what I get for trusting you to follow my instructions immediately. You fail this test, Sanza Salazar..."
O-O-O
Slade tried to bump off the Titans... what a dirty trick! Of course, the Titans and Red X still have the small matter of Slade's War of the Worlds-esque robot to take care of... plus, will Red X finally tell the Titans of Slade's attempted murder plot?