Hey folks, Chapter 15 has finally arrived! Aren't you thrilled! Well unfortunately, my parents' siege on the computer still remains so no replies this chapter to. Good news though, I've been able to talk some sense into their noggins and next week I'll be back online, so here's what I'm going to do; Chapter 16 will be dedicated entirely to the Titans, music videos and replied to chapters 13-15 and Chapter 17 will be the next chapter of Tales of the Closet. Are you cool with that? I hope you do.
Disclaimer: Robin saves, Slade enslaves, Red-X steals, and I write that I don't own the Teen Titans
Chapter 15: New Beginnings
"Come here little ones, the X is where you should hit" said a fumbling distorted voice. Red-X slapped his mask with frustration
"You're getting there cutie" he finally said "But try to make it sound a bit more like this" he leaned towards an invisible enemy in front of him and pointed at his chest
"C'mon kids, X marks the spot" he said smoothly. Starfire looked at him like a student would look at his teacher
"Let me try it again" she said and leaned towards him "C'mon kids, X marks the spot" seeing the way his eye slits narrowed, she realized something was wrong and leaned back
"What have I done wrong this time?" she asked and looked at him with two huge emerald eyes
"It wasn't you this time cutie, the distorter needs a little tweaking" he took the gas mask off her face and turned a dial inside it, a silent rising tone came to ears and it went up the longer he turned it
"Try it now" he said. Starfire did so, and repeated her words. Red-X threw himself back on the armchair behind him and let out a sigh of victory
"Perfect cut, I love it, but there is only one tiny problem"
"Which is?"
"You're not Red-X, come to think of it; you don't even have a nickname" he leaned forward towards her and his eyes narrowed
"What are you doing?" she asked. Her voice showed a slight edge of fear. X didn't respond, but a few seconds later, jumped up as if he was bitten by a snake, and raced towards another room. He came back holding an orange spray paint canister
"Don't move, close your eyes, and hold your breath" he said in a sharp tone, Starfire, without even questioning his purpose, obeyed, and sonly enough, the sound of paint being sprayed filled her ears. A minute later, the noise had stopped, but she still kept her eyes closed, the stinging smell of the paint was still in her nose and forced tears into her eyes, but she held them down. Red-X walked towards another room and came back with a piece of orange fabric; he grabbed a knife from his kitchen and started creating tears in the fabric. He saw Starfire was trying to open her eyes and released a quick "No peaking" minutes later, Starfire felt something being placed over her shoulders. She got up and walked towards a mirror covered with a black sheet. In a quick movement, the vigilante removed the sheet and revealed to Starfire her new self; wearing black boots that seemed to merge with a skin tight black suit that had a styled orange A and O on its chest portion, the O crossing the A's bottom right side. On her shoulders was a cape, torn and tattered like Red-X's, only hers was painted orange, to her mouth was a black gas mask and her eyes were covered with the red lenses of her night vision goggles. The only trace of her old self was her brown hair, still running down her back
"I give you the latest addition to the Red-X corporation, Agent Orange" (A/N: did you like it?)
"Agent Orange? I must admit, it has a nice ring to it" she replied, examining her looks in the mirror, twisting and twirling, always keeping her eyes on the mirror
"Tell me about it, it took me five seconds to think of it, and that's four and a half seconds too long" inside, he was proud of himself, most of the time he didn't give much consideration to what people think of him and his ideas, but she changed everything, suddenly he was trying to make himself look good, no, the best in her eyes. Was it love? Nah, it couldn't be, she was beautiful, innocent and friendly, a bit too friendly, and he did like being around her, but it couldn't be love, just a passing heat wave, like all his past girlfriends, it won't be too long before he'll get bored of her, or will he? Looking at her made him feel right, he didn't know why, but he enjoyed the feeling
"C'mon, we'd better get going, wouldn't want to rob the place after two A.M"
"Then I should fly us there, we will get there much faster"
"Can't, they got news and police choppers all over the place, we'll take my ride" Starfire nodded and the two left the apartment and headed down the stairs, to the building's parking lot. X wandered around the lot for a few seconds and led her to an old beat up car, an old Dodge. Seeing the car, the young Tamaranian wrinkled her nose, which to her luck was hidden under the gas mask
"Wussa matter cutie? You don't like my wheels?" asked the vigilante in an offended distorted tone
"No, no, not at all, it is very…practical" replied Starfire. X gave out a mechanical chuckle and approached the car
"C'mon cutie, you don't really think I would let you ride in this piece of scrap" he reached out below the car and pulled out a disc shaped object. A mechanical crackle was heard and the old Dodge car started fading out, and was replaced by a slick black Dodge Viper. The car was painted jet black, with two red X's crossing its sides, a black tail fin and a license plate that said ROBUOUT. Starfire examined the car with obvious interest and allowed herself into the two seated vehicle; the compact insides of the Viper were obviously modified by Red-X, with a video screen on the dash bored, a Cappuccino maker, four suspicious-looking gas tanks that were extremely cold under the inspecting hand of the young Tamaranian were placed between the two seats, an odd looking extra gauge above the speedometer and a red trigger on the steering wheel. X entered the car and turned on the ignition, the car came to life with a rumbling roar and left the parking lot, cruising through the streets and heading towards the tech district of Jump City. Realizing where they were headed, Starfire took off her gas mask and turned towards Red-X
"Red-X, you need not to rob the research facility, Robin has promised he will provide you with the Xenothium required to keep your suit operational"
"We're not going to get Xenothium" said X sharply, tightening his grip on the steering wheel and taking a sharp left turn
"But we are heading directly towards the Xenothium research labs" protested the young Tamaranian, again, Red-X has managed to confuse her with his logic
"And that's exactly what I want the guy tailing us to think" Starfire turned to look behind her, but a quick "Don't!" made her turn her head back. The vigilante pressed a button beneath the video screen and it displayed a black limo, trying hard to keep up with X's maneuvers, the screen suddenly started going static, the white lines closing on the pictures like a set of jaws
"Put your mask back on" commanded X, Starfire complied, and right on time, the screen was now showing Slade's bronze mask
"Red-X, so nice to see you again" said the criminal
"A real pleasure" replied X, voice dripping with venom
"I see you have a friend with you, who is she? A groupie?" mocked Slade, X was about to speak when he heard another voice talking
"Who wants to know?" asked Starfire, the distorter worked perfectly; Slade did not seem to know who he was talking to
"An interested fellow criminal, but you can call me Slade"
"In that case you can call me Agent Orange"
"Silent and deadly, I like it, so…what are you to our dear X?" asked Slade, looking very interested
"Look here" interrupted Red-X "I'd love listening to your little girl talk all night, but I'm a little busy, so if you please…"
"Right to the point aren't we, well, okay, last chance X, become my apprentice or pay"
"Sorry Slade, you're not my type, now if you excuse me-"
"Are you sure that's you decision?"
"I think he made it clear he doesn't want to see your face again" exclaimed an angry Starfire, Slade's eye narrowed
"Alright then, enjoy the running X, goodbye"
-
Upon disconnecting the call, Slade dialed a new set of numbers into his video phone; the screen now displayed his butler, Wintergreen
"Wintergreen, prepare the transmitter, I need to address Robin one last time, and rid myself of my worst two enemies"
"How will you do that sir?" asked the British butler
"By having Red-X fight the only opponent he can't defeat, himself"
-
"What did Slade mean when he said 'enjoy the running'?" asked Starfire, looking hopefully at Red-X, the vigilante shrugged and kept going forward. A loud gunshot turned his attention towards the video screen, which now displayed four police squad cars following them
"Red-X, you are under arrest, pull over to the side of the road, get out of the car and put your hands up!" said a voice over a loudspeaker, in response; X opened the window and gave the policemen the finger
"Well cutie, I guess we'll have to make some changes in our plan" X took a sharp U turn and drove between the squad cars, which didn't take too long to turn and resume their pursuit
"Where are you heading?" asked a worried Starfire
"Steel City, we'll be able to sneak past them and pull off the job in less than half an hour" the video screen again went static and now displayed a policeman, the man had strong facial lines and a slightly tanned skin, two beady eyes that were covered under the shadow of his police hat glared at Red-X
"Pull over X, you're under arrest!" exclaimed the officer
"Cosgrove, we've through this a million times, we all know you're not going to catch me, send your men and women home to sleep, it's one A.M, I promise we'll play again tomorrow" said X calmly, almost in a bored tone
"The police never sleep X, especially when you're not behind bars, we're going to teach you a lesson you won't forget in a long time"
"I think it's time I'll teach you a lesson, in one of my favorite topics, chemistry" started X, he let one hand off the steering wheel and turned open the valves on the four gas tanks
"Pop quiz Cosgrove, what do you get when you mix two molecules of nitrogen and one molecule of oxygen?" hearing the vigilante's question, Cosgrove's beady eyes widened
"You costumed the car with Nos? (A/N: Nitrous Oxide Syntheses, Nitro boosters) screamed the police chief, face red and nostrils flaring
"Catch me if you can" replied X and squeezed the red trigger on the steering wheel, the action took immediate effect; the black Viper rocketed forward at an insane speed, making the view out of the windows to merge into a blur of black and grey, with occasional red and yellow dots. Perfect timing wasn't a virtue by now, it was a must; with great precision, Red-X turned the steering wheel, now heading up on the Steel City onramp and dodging the oncoming cars at 240 MPH
"He's heading for Steel City, just as you expected chief" said a rookie policewoman sitting in front of a computer monitor
"Excellent, call the Titans East, he's on their jurisdiction now" the officer clicked several buttons and the screen was replaced by a Connection Failed note
"Sorry sir, we can't get to them, I also tried getting the Teen Titans, and got the same results"
"Well, get me anyone else!" scream the chief of police, Red-X has been a pain in his neck for long enough, it was time to clean this mess once and for all
"I think the Justice League are available" suggested the policewoman
"Good, on-screen" commanded chief Cosgrove. The large video screen went black and displayed an Establishing Connection note, seconds later; Superman's face came on screen
"Chief Cosgrove, what is the matter?" asked the man of steel, the strong tone in his voice brought down an aura of safety on everyone present
"We got a little mess that needs your caring, a rouge criminal, Red-X is wreaking havoc among the city, we can't catch him"
"You do realize it's the police's job to catch thieves, don't you?"
"Of course I do, but he's over our heads, even the Teen Titans couldn't have stopped him" after hearing the words Teen Titans, Batman rushed to the screen
"What's with the Teen Titans?" asked the black knight
"I was explaining to Superman that even they couldn't deal with Red-X and-"
"Red-X is on the loose again? We'll take care of this chief" said Batman sharply and terminated the connection, video screens on both the police Headquarters and on the Watch Tower went static
"Robin will have a lot of explaining to do once we stop Red-X" grunted Batman and got into the jet, the rest of the League followed and the aircraft blasted towards Steel City
-
"Let me see if I got you straight, you want me to go skinny dipping with you?" boomed Raven's voice. In front of her, Beast Boy shrunk in panic inside the small compartment of the taxi, legs bent in front of him and body pressed against the door. The cab driver turned towards the two, frowned and shifted her eyes back to the dark road
"Ye…yeah" he replied, his voice trembling, Raven raised an eyebrow, that wasn't the answer she was expecting
"And what made you think I'd say yes?"
"Well, I…I thought it'll be fun?" the changeling raised his right hand in front of his, as if to protect him from an oncoming attack
"So you consider diving naked into an ice cold pond at one A.M, right after you recovered from a bad case of the flu, fun?" Raven no longer seemed angry; her expression has been replaced by a mixture of amusement and confusion
"Well, if you put it that way…Look, all of my big brothers took their girlfriends skinny-dipping, and I don't want to count as the only Logan who didn't" at first, Raven thought it was just a lie to make her go with him, but upon reading the changeling's mind, she realized he was telling the truth. Her eyes softened, but she still stood her ground, truth or no truth, she wouldn't let him see her naked, by choice of course, after all, there was the closet incident three days ago
"Tell you what" she started "Why won't we start slowly, we'll go to the new Swim-O'-Rama that opened downtown last week, the paper said it's opened twenty four hours, and see where it leads us, okay?" without hesitation, the changeling nodded
"To the docks" said Raven. The cabbie did as she commanded and fifteen minutes later, they were facing Titans Tower
"Thanks" said Beast Boy and handed the driver fifteen dollars, the driver declined Beast Boy's money with a wave of her hand
"Not all the people appreciate what you're doing for this city, I'm one of those who do, so this ride, and each and every other you'll take in my cab, is for free" the cabbie had a nice face, she was obviously hard working, but still was kind and welcoming
"Thanks" mumbled both Raven and Beast Boy, and headed towards Titans Tower, Raven flying, and Beast Boy as a hawk. They entered the pitch black living room, scooted to their rooms, took their newly bought swim suits and left the tower in a hurry. Beast Boy didn't even notice the blood stain on the Med-Lab's floor, and both he and Raven weren't aware of the actions that took place five floors beneath them.
-
"He's right…" muttered Robin to himself, he sounded dazed, almost hypnotized "How couldn't I have seen this before? It was so obvious" he continued to whisper to himself, digging through the piles of useless devices and gadgetry that were placed inside Titans Tower's waste floor, he kept on searching frantically, as if he was possessed, his mask hiding two bloodshot eyes that had a maniacal spark to them "There is only one way he could be so good, only one way" he turned one box over another. While he was unconscious, Slade talked to him again, but he was careless in his words, or so Robin thought, before Slade had finished, he said something, a sentence that wouldn't mean anything to any other person "I love it when the good guy wins". But to Robin, whose mind was flushed with rage, jealousy and mind altering chemicals, it meant the world, he knew who Red-X was, Slade, and with this new found truth, he had also found out that he could not beat the madman, not under normal circumstances, he had to even the odds, and he had the weapon he needed to do it. With pounding heart, he started uncovering the insides of the box whose label said
RED-X V1.00
-
They arrived at the Swim-O'-Rama, a building resembling a dome of some sort, colored in a nearly transparent bluish color. The words Swim-O'-Rama were written in glowing yellow neon and were placed above the entrance. Beast Boy and Raven exchanged glances and entered the building; the moment they did so, their noses were filled with the slight tingle of chloride and the sounds of water splashing. They walked down the long hall until the found the locker rooms. After changing to their swimsuits, the two met at the point where the locker rooms split into the male and female compartments. Both looked at each other with astonishment, it was an awkward moment for the both of them, sure, they saw each other naked, but there was something different this time, Raven was the first to talk
"Well, shall we?" Beast Boy just nodded, and they both walked along the red corridor towards the door that was labeled Pools. Even before entering, they heard the sound of teenagers screaming and upon entering, the saw an odd sight; a giant pool whose center has been covered with a thick layer of nylon and a net placed in the middle of it. On the nylon were at least twenty boys and girls in their late teens, playing volley ball. Raven looked at the odd sight with awe until a sudden "Hey Raven!" caught her attention. Two Goth boys, about her age and height, approached her; one was pretty muscular, but pale, had two earrings on his left ear and a tattoo of a black dove over his chest. The other was not well built, but seemed rather strong, hair doused with peroxide and a tattoo that said NSFU2 on his right shoulder, both wore black trunks
"Hey Rae" they both said
"Hey D, A.J" replied the half demon, completely forgetting Beast Boy
"Name's BB" said the changeling and reached forwards, both teens shook his hand
"So what're you guys doing here anyway?" questioned Raven
"We saw that these guys were doing a little Pooly-Ball game and were two players short so…" A.J gestured towards the awaiting teens
"Pooly-ball huh? Might if we join?" asked Beast Boy, D shrugged
"Whatever" he replied and started moving his earrings. The four walked towards the nylon mat and scattered to their teams. Beast Boy was teamed with A.J and Raven was with D. A.J took the ball in his hands and threw it into the air
"Let Pooly-Ball Combat, begin" he said and hit the white ball with all of his strength
-
A lone figure walked calmly across the cold dark corridors of Titans' Tower, its long and tattered cape trailing behind it. The figure dashed along the living room and into the living quarters, directly into Robin's room. It knew exactly where to look for what it wanted; a vile filled with a menecinglly red glowing liquid
"Raw Xenothium, just the edge I need over him" said the figure. Its voice was similar to Robin's, but darker, mechanic. With the same speed it came into the room, it dashed out and disappeared into the shadows
-
"Comin' atcha Rae!" screamed Beast Boy and laid down a powerful spike slam, the ball rocketed down towards the nylon platform, a teenage Latina bolted between Raven's opened legs and prevented the ball from touching the bouncing surface by placing her hands between the two, sending the ball into the air
"Mine!" exclaimed Raven and hopped into the air, slamming her hands against the white ball and sending it towards the other side's piece of nylon
"Got it!" yelled a tanned teen with white spiky hair and an Australian accent, jumped up and boomed the ball back to the other side, but from the sheer force of the blow he was blasted into the water and had to climb up to the platform, soaked from water
"Looks like she flushed you out Rocket" taunted the Latina from Raven's team while she positioned herself to hit the ball
"Ah, shut yer pie hole Shilla" spat the Ozzy (A/N: that was not meant to offend any Australians) and moved closer towards the net. The ball bounced from one side to another for another fifteen minutes, the two sides were so caught up in their game that their reflexes became faster with every passing second and spikes weren't even an option. Raven launched the ball high into the air with a powerful punch; the white object started diving towards the other side's nylon platform. Punk Rocket and another teen exchanged glances and nodded.
"Roger that command, I got 'em in my sights" said the teen in an almost metallic voice and jumped from Punk Rocket's shoulders high into the air and towards the ball
"Delivering payload" he slammed the ball with a powerful down-punch that sent the white object diving towards the other side's platform at a crazy speed. Both Raven and the Latina jumped towards the estimated place of the impact, but were too late. The sheer force of the impact sent a ripple that made all of Raven's team, including herself, to drop into the water with loud splashes
"That's a flush-out, team 2 wins!" announced one of the teens who were watching the game. Beast Boy scooted towards Raven's side of the platform and helped her onto it
"Are we having fun or what?" said the changeling and drew a wide smile on his face
"I think I've had enough exercise for one day, I need some RR, stat" replied the half demon. A spark lit up in Beast Boy's eyes
"Well, I saw they have a Jacuzzi somewhere around here, wonna go for a dip?" he suggested with a grin. Raven, who looked like she was ready to keel over just nodded
"Okay dude, you just managed to get her to go with you, don't blow it!" screamed Beast Boy's mind.
Upon entering the small Jacuzzi, Raven tried to make herself comfortable in the hot water and pored some bubble soap into it, raising a thick layer of bubbles on top of the water. Beast Boy had a hard time taking his eyes off Raven, she was very good looking and being with her in a Jacuzzi together made him wish the bubbles won't disappear or else he'd be in an awkward situation. His fingers fumbled across the ledge and flipped the water jets on, as a result, Raven jumped up in surprise, splashing stinging soap into the changeling's eyes.
"S…Sorry Beast Boy" she said, getting angry with herself
"It's cool Rae, none got hurt right?" he replied and turned around to wipe his face with a towel
"Okay Raven, you can do it, prove him that you can have fun to" she thought and reached for back
"Beast Boy…" she said in a low voice. The changeling finished wiping his face and turned around
"Wha…" his eyes fixated on Raven, she was fully submerged, except her head, and her left hand, which was holding a black piece of fabric. It took him half a second to realize it was Raven's top
"Go fish" she said and dunked her hand into the water.
Author Notes
If the whole Jacuzzi thing sucked, let me know, I have a feeling it does. Anyway, it feels good to write again, I love it and hope you loved this chapter. It took me a long time to write it. Please review.
By the way, did you know that chapter 14(plus the revision) got a grand total of over 70 reviews? It's awesome!
Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy reviewing my chapter
Peace!