A word from the author
I HATE WINDOWS! Die Bill friggin' Gates and your damn OS! The whole review I had on my old Win 95 got erased. It took me and the titans a week to write it down. Now we'll just have to write it all over again. But I decided to release chapter 16 first. Enjoy
Disclaimer: If I owned the Teen Titans I'd have enough money to hire a hitman and kill Bill Gates
Chapter sixteen: Memories
The lone figure darted across Titans Tower's dark corridors, past the living quarters, to the elevator. It's grey gloved finger reached out and pressed a glowing red button with a -1 branded on it. The elevator came to life with an electric buzz and started decanting floor by floor. The figure turned around and examined itself in the mirror; the black suit, the dark clad cape, the grey gloves, the white skull mask and the two red X's, one crossing the right eye and the other branded across the chest
"You're dressed to kill" it said to itself. The voice, deep and distorted, bounced across the walls of the elevator until it merged with the electric buzz of the engine.
At long last, the elevator came to a halt, taking the sound of the engine with it. The doors slid open, allowing the figure to slip out, still hidden in the dark shadows. It searched the floor for about fifteen minutes until it came across what it was looking for; a small brown box with the word Grayson branded across the top in golden letters. With steady hands, the figure picked the box off the floor and opened it. Inside it, placed on red velvet, were a 0.44 Desert Eagle pistol and a single magazine. In a single motion, the figure loaded the weapon and slipped it to the back of it's belt
"This ends…" said the figure's distorted voice
"Tonight" mumbled Batman to himself. For the past six months, Red-X has played each and every law enforcing agency in the country for fools. Even without his belt, he and his two counterparts, Silver Fang and Switchblade have mocked and broken into every high security installation, and got away with it every time. Until two months ago, during a carefully planned sting operation, the Justice League was able to apprehend Silver Fang. Three days later, they caught Switchblade, trying to break her boyfriend out of jail. Red-X got away both times, right under their noses. Batman hated loose ends, and the call from chief Cosgrove was just what he needed to get his team to help him.
"One simple bust and we'll be on our way home" muttered Flash to himself. In response, Batman grabbed the human bullet by the collar and banged the back of his head against the steel hull of the jet
"Don't even think that way" he hissed "Red-X isn't just another thief, he's a dangerous menace that needs to be stopped"
"True" said Wonder Woman "And by Harrah, he will be stopped"
"She's got a point Bruce" added Superman, immediately catching Batman's attention "We've dealt with him before, and we'll deal with him-"
"Note a correction Superman" interrupted the black knight "We've dealt with him when he didn't have his belt. Trust me, there's more to that thing that a fashion accessory" he took a long breath "When fueled with a proper amount of Xenothium, the belt, combined with the Red-X suit, gives it's wearer complete access to the Red-X weapon systems"
"Weapons or no weapons, we'd better stop him before three A.M, there's a monster truck marathon that I just can't miss" mumbled Flash
"Why you-" raged Batman
"HEY MACHO MEN!" screamed Hawk Girl. Seeing the entire attention was devoted to her, she continued
"I got a lock on a moving source of Xenothium radiation inside Steel City, signature shows 550 RAD"
"550?" Batman sounded surprised "That means he's fully charged" he rubbed his chin and seemed lost in thoughts "This is going to be harder than I thought" he thought. Though a bit shook up, he was still able to think reasonably, and his mind had a trap already cooking up inside it.
"Hawk Girl" he finally said "Plot a course to the Steel City- Metropolis highway. We'll get him just like we got Silver Fang" the alien girl complied, and the jet took a dive towards an empty side road. Upon landing, the members of the Justice League, save Batman, scattered along key locations across the interstate, and awaited the black Viper to run across them
"Everyone in position?" asked Superman
"Affirmative" said J'ohn Jones
"Ready and waiting" replied the Green lantern
"More than ready" answered both Wonder Woman and Hawk Girl
"Whatever" answered Flash dully
"I'll get the Batmobile in position" said Batman and broke contact
The Black Viper took a sharp left, into a narrow dark ally, tripping a couple of black garbage cans on its way. Three police cars that were following it were forced to take turns in entering the ally, and because they were much larger than the slick Viper, they drove much slower in the ally. When he reached the end of the ally; Red-X sought out another onramp, or a sharp turn, anything that would give him a certain edge over the police cars. On the freeway, he was able to easily outrun them, but inside the narrow streets, it was much harder to maintain that advantage.
"An onramp, an onramp, my kingdom for an onramp" he mumbled and took a right turn, the three squad cars close behind him
"There!" exclaimed Starfire and pointed at a road which was marked at the Metropolis onramp. X slammed the brakes and twisted the steering wheel to the right. The car preformed a near on spot 180 turn with a horrible screech noise. When X hit the accelerator, the car blasted towards the turn and slipped between two cars on its way. The police cars tried to perform the exact maneuver; one of them spun out of control and slammed against a lamppost with its side, the other two cars kept track of the Viper and zoomed after it.
"That was close" said Starfire and wiped beads of sweat off her forehead
"Yeah, but it was fun" replied X and looked at her. Even though she had night vision goggles on, he saw her eyes were fixated on something else than him, something behindhim. Quickly turning around, a peculiar sight was revealed to him; it was a man, about his age, maybe older, he was wearing a red body suit, with a head cover, and two lightning shaped curls coming out of the assumed place of his ears, and two lightning shaped yellow stripes from his shoulders down, the man was pretty muscular, but wasn't what interested Red-X. The man was running at the same speed as his car
"Hi" said the man and waved towards X
"Uh, hi" returned the vigilante
"Nice mask, did you make it yourself?" asked the speeding man
"You might say that" replied X, the man chuckled
"You're a funny one; tell you what, since you got such a sweet ride, let's drag, if you win, I won't come after ya, if I win, you turn yourself in, deal?" A mean spark lit up in X's masked eyes
"Deal" he replied
"Tell you what, you'll even get a five seconds head-start, whoever gets to Metropolis first wins, GO!" X slammed the Nitro trigger on his steering wheel. The car responded instantly to the injection of the volatile gas and rocketed forward at an insane speed.
"Think Vince. THINK! You only got five seconds to think up a plan before Rocket Boy back there picks up the pace" raced the thought inside X's mind. His thought drifted to every run-in he had with the Justice League, Teen Titans or the "Titans East!" two mental fingers snapped inside X's mind. He remembered how he managed to run from the Titans East's speeding twins; Mas Y Menos.
Five seconds were long gone, and, as both Red-X and Flash expected, it didn't take too long before the man in red uniform came to X's window to taunt him, just as X planned.
"Guess your ride isn't as fast as you thought huh?" mocked the human bullet
"I guess so" replied the vigilante with a chuckle "But I'm pretty glad I'm racing against you and not those Mas Y Menos guys"
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Flash sounded suspicious, Red-X should've been terrified by now, seeing that he is about to be captured
"'Cause the only thing funnier than those two midgets speedsters smeared all over the highway is one big speedster doing it" with that, the vigilante's palm produced an X that wrapped itself around the human bullet's legs like a boa, sending him crashing against the asphalt. From the sheer force of the impact, Flash bounced off the road several times, before starting to roll uncontrollably on the black asphalt
"How's that for a drag race, cutie?" asked X. In response, Starfire let out a small giggle
"I do not know, but perhaps you should ask Flash, he is 'dragging' back there" now it was X's turn to chuckle
"Did you just make a joke?" he asked in surprise
"I guess I did" she replied. A moment of silence passed between them, and was interrupted by the sound of sirens
"These guys again?" shouted X. Starfire looked back and was struck by shock
"Uh…Red-X? I think we are, as you say, in deep droppings" she sounded terrified
"What're you talking about?" he asked and stared at the video screen. It showed fifteen squad cars, lead by an odd looking black car, with bat-wing shaped fins and what seemed to be a cockpit. Above the weird car flew five people, Red-X identified them; the Justice league
"You've gotta be kidding me!" he screamed at the windshield
"I believe your dash board is a bad joke teller" commented Starfire. She looked to her left, although covered with a mask, she could almost feel Red-X's fear, and see it in his masked eyes
"No sweat X, you were prepared for this to happen, you'll just use plan B" he said to himself, uncertain if it was supposed to calm Starfire, or him
"Do you have a plan B for anything?" she asked
"Yeah, and they always work" he replied
"Except for that one time at Chang's observatory, correct?"
"Okay, they work most of time" he said and tightened his grip on the steering wheel "I just hope this is a part of that time" he thought
"Lower Beast Boy, lower…Oh, there, there, right there…That's the spot…" said Raven in a low voice and groaned with pleasure. Beast Boy's head popped out of the water with an all around surprised look on his face
"Jeez Raven, relax, it's just a back rub" he said
"Obviously you never had an octopus rubbing your back, those spare six tentacles really make a difference you know" she returned in a dreamy voice, turned around and leaned against the ledge of the Jacuzzi. Beast Boy stared at her naked back; there was something about her grayish pale skin that attracted him. He drove those thoughts away and joined her, leaning next to her, and being very careful about fixating his eyes on her face. He pushed a button that made the lights dim in a manner that made the room seem as though it was lit by candles, and an old love tune started playing in the background
"Ya'know something Rae?" he started "Being here with this atmosphere, the lights, the music, the warm water…"
"My breasts" she added sarcastically
"Hey!" he splashed some water on her "I didn't come here just to see you naked! It was just a big side bonus" he added with a whisper
"You know I heard that" she said and splashed water on him
"Yeah, what of it?" came his reply, along with a splash of hot water
"You want war? You got it!" she used both her hands to generate a wall of water, and sent it towards Beast Boy's face. Seeing the expression oh his face made he burst into a wave of laughter
"Torpedoes away! Fire one!" he said in a voice that made him sound like those submarine commanders in the war movies he like so much and used his leg to hurl a tidal wave of water towards Raven, which made her laughing even louder
"Admiral, they're coming off port bow!" she said between her fits of laughter and released quick bursts of water to Beast Boy's face
"Release the mind controlled squid!" he exclaimed, wend underwater and began attacking Raven's waist and stomach, which only contributed to her hysterics. After twenty minutes of intense naval (A/N: caught the pun back there?) warfare, Raven gave up her attempts of defending her ticklish stomach and waist with her ands and raised them defensively
"I give!" she let out between one fit of laughter to the other. Beast Boy ended his merciless onslaught, rose from below the water and saluted
"The allies win again!" he said and saluted
"Allies?" asked Raven while trying to catch her breath "I thought I was the allies"
"Is that argument I hear?" teased the changeling and wiggled his fingers in the air. Raven let out a quick burst of "No's"
"I've had enough laughing to last a centaury" she added and closed her eyes a bit. When she opened them, she saw Beast Boy's face was very close to hers, and a dazed look in his eyes
"What are you doing?" she asked
"Making you sign your submission charter" he replied. Raven razed an eyebrow
"You know that to do that, the allies had to drop two nukes on Japan right?" she asked again. Beast Boy placed both his hands on her shoulders
"Boom" he said and kissed her. The kiss came to its abrupt ending about three minutes after it began. The door burst open and in came Punk Rocket, Cyborg and Lisa. Raven screamed and submerged with only her head sticking out of the water, Beast Boy, in one lightning fast maneuver, snatched Raven's top off the surface and handed it to the half-demon underwater
"What're you two doing here? Haven't you heard the news!" exclaimed Cyborg, not noticing Raven and Beast Boy's condition
"Dude, does it look like we've been watching the news?" raged the changeling
"Well you should've" added Lisa. Only afterwards did she notice Beast Boy and Raven's position, and felt the awkwardness creeping up on her. Cyborg held out his palm towards one of the walls, and an image of a certain car chase appeared. Raven and Beast Boy both examined the hologram with interest
"X?" asked Beast Boy. Cyborg nodded
"…Authorities claim to have the runaway criminal, known only as Red-X on the run, along with his accomplice, a female known as Agent Orange. We have second lieutenant Edmond Duke on the line. Mr. Duke, what can you…"
"Agent Orange?" Raven shook her head in disbelief "It couldn't be"
"What?" asked Beast Boy
"Forget it" she replied, but still, her suspicious mind didn't let go. She grabbed her communicator and turned it on
"Star? Starfire, come in" she said. The video screen started going static and finally came to life, displaying Starfire's forever curious face
"Raven? Is that you?" she asked
"Star, where are you" shot Raven. Starfire looked around
"Well, I believe I am somewhere on the Steel-City Metropolis highway a-"
"You're Agent Orange!" she screamed, nearly blowing Starfire's eardrums. Five grey fingers grabbed the communicator, a quick smear of dark colors, and Raven stood, so to say, face to face with Red-X
"Relax Rae, I'll bring her back by morning without a scratch" he said calmly
"X?" Raven sounded surprised "You do realize half of the state's police are after you right?"
"Just like good old times" he said and terminated the transmission.
"We should head back to the tower, they might go there if things get too dicey" suggested Cyborg
"Good idea" agreed Lisa. Beast Boy helped Raven out of the water and they all left the Swim-O'-Rama hall. Raven flew Lisa back to the Tower and Beast Boy, who morphed into a pterodactyl, helped Cyborg back
"…As you can clearly see on your screens, Red-X is trying once again to squirm his way between the fingers of the long arm of the law. The police and the Justice League are on his tail, and, in this reporter's opinion, it's about time this low-life goes behind bars where he… Excuse me" Felix O'Malley reached for the pocket of his suit and withdrew a cell phone
"Caller number one, you're on the air" said the reporter
"Uh…yeah, I'd like two large pizzas, low on the pepperoni, a bottle of coke, and go heavy on the olives" Felix recognized the voice, it was Red-X
"Witty as ever X" he said with a chuckle "I just hope Tank, your cellmate, likes witty guys too" X burst into a fit of distorted laughter
"Come on Felix" he said, still trying to stop laughing "Don't be mad at me 'cause my hair is still real" The reporter slammed his hand against his long brown mullet and his cameraman zoomed in on his brown hair, chuckling to himself
"I…I don't know what you're talking about" he said with a trembling voice. The windshield of Felix's broadcasting van was penetrated by a lone X throwing star, the weapon made its way past the driver and snatched the wig right off the reporter's head, pinning it against the backdoor of the truck
"Low-Life this, O'Malley!" screamed X's voice through the phone. The cameraman, still having his lenses zoomed sharply on Felix's bald head, smiled to himself
"Live to the world baby" he grinned.
Author's Note
Due to my painful condition (broken right arm), I decided to split these two chapters into a four chapter saga (Yeah, Right) 'cause it's so damn painful. Kids, never go skateboarding without proper protective gear, FOR REAL! You'll save yourselves a lot of pain. I already have the next two chapters written down so typing them should be a hell lot shorter than all of my previous chapters. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, remember to review!
The wingless Raven
So long.
This is RavenOnline's sister, StarfireOnline. He told me that he saw some of you didn't like the way he writes Star/X parts. DEAL WITH IT! Oh, and, just for you to know, the next three chapters are completely revolving around Red-X, so if you don't like him, you better not read them
Bye for now