Chapter Three: X Marks the Spot
"Hey kid, remember me?" Red X let out a light laugh. He landed on the rooftop beside Nightwing as he brandished an X-a-Rang, a haughty look on his face. He smirked at Nightwing. "I see you've changed your outfit, not too shabby for yourself…Nightwing." Red X launched into a spin kick; Nightwing counterattacked with a chopping punch as he began flipping back to evade another kick.
Starfire rose up into view as she sent a hailstorm of Starbolts at Red X; he dodged and turned his attention to Starfire. "Hey there, cutie, heard you got married to this Bird Boy. Too bad, now I have no one to flirt with in the middle of a fight," he laughed a little until he was nearly blasted off his feet by lasers from Starfire's eyes.
"You do not have the right to 'flirt' with me, you clorbag walbernelk!" she punched him fiercely as he staggered back. Surprised, he looked at Nightwing. He dodged another blow from Starfire and turned his attention back to his opponent.
"Do you understand everything she says," Red X frowned. "What's a Clorbag whatever-she-called it, anyway?" he asked as he received a kick from Nightwing. He responded with a punch, which was blocked, but Nightwing held his arm, keeping them interlocked.
"I don't know what it is, X, but when she tells me I'll let you know," Nightwing suddenly flipped Red X over him so he landed on his back. X somersaulted to his feet and began blocking blows as Nightwing and Starfire pushed him back towards the roof's edge.
"So, what brought you back here X?" Nightwing asked.
"That's for me to know and you to find out," Red X laughed. "Makes it more fun that way." He backed up to the roof's edge and leapt off. "See you around, Bird Boy!" he shouted as he disappeared from sight.
Nightwing frowned, remembering his last encounter with Red X. That had been two years ago, he had never discovered what X had been after then, but now he knew. He wanted Zynthonium; it was the chemical that powered his suit. He knew by the amounts that he had managed to steal from Wayne Enterprises, he had enough to keep him powered up for a long, long time.
He began scanning his surroundings atop the roof of Wayne Enterprises. He knew that if Red X was back with Zynthonium now in his possession, there was no telling what he would do. Nightwing let out a frustrated sigh as he turned his thoughts to someone else. Her.
He had at first been surprised that she had joined the police force. It was a startling move, but then, he didn't know what to expect from Starfire. He knew she would want to serve the city as well as she could without her powers. He mentally kicked himself as he had for five years. He knew he shouldn't have been so harsh to her. His temper had gotten the best of him that day and she had done what she thought was the right thing. He tried to put it out of his mind as he continued scanning the city for trouble.
He spotted a car racing away from a museum and he decided that they were going much too fast to be cruising. The building's alarms blared, revealing an attempted break in. Nightwing leapt off the roof, landing on the ground silently, he summoned his Night Cycle. The blue motorbike stopped on command with a push of a button on a remote control.
Hopping onto the Cycle Nightwing roared off as a police car careened towards a different problem. "They better pay me for this freakin' overtime," Kory muttered under her breath as she and Robert sped after a local drug dealer named Bobbie Simpson. They had busted him at his house but he had managed to escape by having his thugs attack them. They had jumped into a getaway car and sped off.
Their target suddenly swerved and crashed into a nearby tree as he tried to avoid an oncoming semi truck. Jumping out, he began running towards an ally as they jumped out to pursue him. Ducking behind a trash bin, Bobbie fired his gun. Robert dove to the ground, returning fire. Kory fired a few shots, she tried to get in a better position so she could get a better shot at him, but he ducked behind the trash bin again.
She decided to run to the other end of the ally to try and block him off. She barely managed to dodge gunfire as he saw her come around the other way. "Freeze, drop the gun and put your hands in the air!" Robert ordered sternly. The man looked from her to Robert and back to her once before making a split second decision. He turned back to Robert and fired his gun.
"No!" the sound was ripped out of her throat before she could stop it. Kory ran over to her partner and grabbed a walkie-talkie. "We have an officer down on Sixth Street and Boulevard, get an ambulance here quick. I'm going to go after him after you arrive!"
Kory knelt by Robert's fallen body, checking for his breathing and pulse. "Come on, do not do this to me!" she shouted at his unconscious form. "Just stay alive, Robert! Please!" She pleaded with him as the medics arrived and placed him on a stretcher.
"Where is he, the drug dealer, this Bobbie Simpson? Have they found him?" she askedan officer who had accompanied the ambulance.
"I'm afraid not, Kory," he said. Suddenly, her walkie-talkie blared to life. She listened intently.
"Officers, the suspect drug dealer headed into a warehouse at Pier 41, calling for backup, over," Kory pushed the button and answered it.
"Kory Anders, heading to Pier 41 over and out!" she got into the car and rubber tires squealed loudly. She left marks in the road as she floored it to the abandoned warehouse. She knew right where it was. The Titans had fought Slade long ago, or rather, his robots in the warehouse at Pier 41.
Pulling to a stop, she unholstered her 9 mm and cautiously entered the building. The drug dealer saw her and fired. She jumped behind a nearby wall for cover as he continued shooting. She fired again, wounding the man's arm so he dropped the gun he was holding.
"Do not move!" Kory ordered him. "Get on the ground and put your hands on your head. Instead of getting on the ground. He struggled to grab her gun, but he only succeeded in knocking it away. Kory managed to throw him off her and she scrambled to grab the gun. The drug dealer got to it first, and pointed it at her.
"So, I have the gun and you are unarmed, looks like it's time to say good-bye," he sneered at her. Kory felt something she had not felt in five years. Fury, it wasn't like just being angry over a squabble or an insignificant argument, it was fury. It also brought back something she had least expected. Her powers.
The drug dealer could only stare at her in horror as an ominous emerald green light began to surround her hands and emerald eyes, casting an eerie green light on the walls and the floor. He suddenly felt himself blasted off his feet by a great laser blast that had appeared to come from inside her somehow. He hit the floor hard and felt himself being rolled over and handcuffed.
"I have him in custody, over and out," she said into the walkie-talkie. Soon the others were there and they escorted him to the police car. A fellow officer by the name of Dee Bowman walked up to her.
"He's a strange man that Bobbie Simpson," Dee Bowman said quietly. "Raving about 'a nasty green light'. I say he was on crack, he must be seeing stuff."
"I better head home, my shift is done now," Kory said, getting into her car and driving back to her house. Once inside, she started down at her hands quietly, amazed at what had taken place less than an hour before. She looked up at the mirror in her kitchen. "It looks like Starfire has come back to Jump City."
Nightwing followed the speeding car, easily dodging the gunfire from its occupants. He slammed his Night Cycle into the car, causing it to swerve. He continued until the driver lost control and crashed into a nearby tree. Leaping off, he twirled his Bo Staff and began to fight them as they tried to escape. One man punched him in the face, but Nightwing managed to duck and smashed his Bo Staff into the man's face. He was a dozen yards away from the abandoned warehouse on Pier 41when he saw an eerie green flash that flared and faded quickly. Distracted, he instinctively turned his head in the direction of the light as the other man fired a gun at him.
He grimaced in pain as he evaded the bullet, it didn't enter him, he just felt the burning hot met graze his shoulder. Removing a Bird-a-Rang at him, knocking the other man out cold. "Nice job Bird Boy, mind if I stop by to chat?" a voice asked. Nightwing turned, he was not surprised at all to see Red X standing a mist the trees, small smile evident through his mask..
"I'm not surprised at all Red X," Nightwing smirked. "You're the only one I know of who needs Zynthonium at the moment." He assumed a neutral stance, unsure if X wanted to fight or actually talk.
"Maybe," Red X replied.
"So why the conversation?" Nightwing asked.
"Oh, just checking up on an old rival," replied X.
"Why do I have the feeling I'll be seeing more of you?" Nightwing asked himself aloud more than he was asking Red X.
"Oh, maybe you will Bird Boy," he tossed a red X down at Nightwing's feet. "Remember X marks the spot kid. You'll be seeing a lot more of me," he said before he vanished into the darkness. Knowing Red X, Nightwing would have to be careful. He had a feeling that Red X wanted more than his Zynthonium. He had a feeling X wanted something bigger. But he couldn't put a finger on what it could be.
Nightwing waited a few minutes before turning his attention back to the old warehouse at Pier 14. He saw the flashing lights of patrol cars. He perched himself some distance away from where they were. He saw one of the officers climb into a car and drive off. He figured it was Kory Anders, Starfire, although he could quite tell. He waited until they all had left the building before leaping onto the roof and making his way into the abandoned building.
He began looking around. "Must've been a gunfight in here," he said to himself as he looked around the room. He saw the bullet holes in the walls and he caught the scent of smoke in the air. It didn't seem out of the ordinary, then he saw it. A great hole had been blasted into the wall, he could tell that whoever the target was, it had been at pretty close range. He knew that the Jump City Police Department didn't have that kind of firepower to inflict that much damage into a concrete structure.
"No, it couldn't be," he told himself, trying to rationalize the idea that she was the one behind the blast that he had seen. "But, you never know, that Starfire, she does things you'd least expect…" Turning around, he made his way back to the tree where he had stashed his Night Cycle. Straddling the seat, he sped off to his house, deep in thought about her, and what it might mean if she decided to come out of her normal life and become who she always was. A hero was rising, what was he going to do?