Another review chapter went down the drain. Corrupted file, can you imagine this! I can't even think straight. It's the second time I lose time and effort over a computer error. Thirty pages, mangled, destroyed, obliterated. I'm done trying to publish the damn thing, it took me two months, in which I had seriously hard tests, and I was done with it. But then, computer error, and I suddenly got thirty pages of square thingies! I'm not writing it again, sorry readers, I truly am sorry! I hope you'll be able to forgive me for keeping you waiting, and hope this chapter will be enough to make up for it.

Disclaimer: Own the Teen Titans? Me? You've gotta be kidding

Chapter Nineteen: "I Hate You!"

He was in his room, pacing, step by step by step by step, walking in circles inside the confines of his small workroom, think. Thoughts about what happened an hour ago haunted him, that event, that one millisecond, that one gunshot.

"Catch'ya later" echoed the voice in his head, Red-X's last two words, the words that were his insignia.

"Catch you in hell" he remembered saying before pulling the trigger. That shot was the starting shot of a race; a race of death, a race to save the life of one soul.

He remembered it like it happened just a second ago; the small recoil of the pistol as it went off, the sudden burst of heat as the bullet left its chamber, towards its target. He remembered what happened to X when the bullet penetrated the suit, through his body. The vigilante seemed to freeze in time, as if you took a remote control and hit the 'pause' button. He stood still, the white eye slits wide, both hands covering the right portion of his chest. He stayed motionless for a few moments, but then his body collapsed; like a house of cards, the young man fell to his knees, holding to his chest for dear life, gravity did its work, so did the momentum, he fell face flat, not moving, it wasn't sure that he was even breathing. Robin remembered the voice in his head, the sickening voice of Slade, saying those three hellish words, three words that could bring down walls and destroy cities, and like those cities, so did Robin's mind collapse, crumbled and shattered at the frightening reality he was blasted into; a reality in which he shot a man, for no reason. Yes, those three words, even the thought of them made the Boy Wonder's stomach turn

"Thank you, Robin"

He smashed his fist against the wall, it hurt, he raised his masked eyes to stare eye-to-eye with the Red-X skull mask hung over the wall; a dull, expressionless face stared back at him, the two bleached eye slits staring at him, saying nothing

"Say something" he said, hammering his fists beside the white mask, nothing.

"Anything" he pleaded, still no response. He stared at the white slits for a few seconds, and broke down

"I didn't mean to!" he screamed, hoping for the lifeless mask to answer, but all he got was silence, deathly silence.

"I didn't mean to…" he said again, pouting silently. He knew wrong doing for what it was, and that was wrong.

It was already 10 A.M, several hours had past after the faithful shot was fired. Robin decided to leave his room towards the med-lab; he had to see the result of his doing

"Maybe Raven was able to make him better" he thought, as he walked down the long corridor, towards the elevator, the medical lab was two floors down. As he went down, he turned around and looked at the mirror; Red-X stared back at him, the Red-X Alpha

"You're dressed to kill" echoed a voice in his mind. He panicked and punched the glass mirror, breaking it. Pieces of the glass penetrated the grey glove and into his skin, it hurt

"Guess I have to visit the med lab anyway" he said and got out of the small cube, walking again down the hall, his head down. On his way, he bumped into Beast Boy

"Sorry" he said and looked up towards the shape shifter

"Uh, sure dude, no problem" replied Beast Boy and resumed his walk. Robin looked back, the changeling was walking faster, he was afraid of him, of his friend, of Robin.

"He's losing blood; get him to the med-lab, PRONTO!" screamed Lisa. Starfire and Cybrog, who were able to free themselves of their X shaped restrains, rushed towards the wounded vigilante, picked him up and ran out of the living room, across the corridor, and into the elevator. Raven, who in the meantime regained her composure, dematerialized into an obsidian raven, moved through the red crisscross that bound her to her place and helped Beast Boy down. Afterwards, they both helped Lisa, with Beast Boy's ferocious Velociraptor claws tearing through the Xenothium material and Raven's powerful telepathic hands, also helping in ripping the red matter off Lisa's body. The female android, along with Beast Boy and Raven, raced down the hall, they didn't even look at him. He was left alone, the gun still in his hand, smoke rising from the barrel. They didn't even look at him

He quickly shook that memory off him and proceeded down the white hall, as he walked, he kept looking at the red stains on the floor; dried blood, X's blood

Finally reaching the med-lab, he clicked the 'open' button. The slide door opened with a slight sound of air being released, Robin stepped in. Inside was Raven, sitting on a black leather chair, her grayish skin was stained with red marks, she didn't have the time to wash up after taking care of Red-X's condition. Her expression showed she was tired; working who-know-how-many hours over the young thief's dying body. A closer inspection told Robin that Raven was actually napping, or at least trying to. He took another step in and she snapped awake.

"Robin" she said in her monotonous tone "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see how X is doing" he said. Raven looked at him. Even though he wasn't a telepath, he could tell what she was thinking

"You came here to finish the job eh?" he could almost hear those words in his head. Raven's eyes strolled down his body, to his hand

"Your hand doesn't look too good" she told him.

"It's nothing" he bluffed. Actually, it hurt like a needle being pushed down his hand, more than one needle

"Well let me take a look at it" she said and rolled her chair closer to him, skidding along the floor in a rather silent mechanic sound. She took his hand into hers and started pulling the gray glove off. As she did, the glass shards that dug into his flesh were starting to come out, it hurt like hell. His face twitched, but he didn't say anything. After the gray, X branded glove was removed, she handed the Boy Wonder a pair of tweezers

"Pull the rest of the glass out yourself and let me know when you're done. I got more work to do" she said coldly and rolled back to the near operating table, where he was, covered in a white blanket, from under which numerous wires came out, attached to the medical monitors and gadgets alike. His mask was a bit raised, just enough to allow a thick white respiratory tube to his mouth, was Red-X

Raven sat beside him, her head was heavy on her neck, she was about to drop on the floor and sleep until the next world war, or so she felt. She turned her head and looked at the monitors attached to X's body; heart rate, brain activity, breathing. Everything was indicating towards one thing; the vigilante fell into a coma. The rhythmic sound of the monitors was like a lullaby to her. Beep, beep, beep she felt her eyelids heavy, her face sank into a nearby small table, she knew she had to stay awake, but couldn't. Finally; her eyes closed, giving up to her brain's whim. She sunk into the numbness of sleep.

She got into the white room, Beast Boy following her. She cocked her head sideways, her eyes met with X's body; he was in serious bad shape. She walked closer to him and grabbed the lower part of the skull mask, wanting to lift it. He grabbed her exposed thigh weakly, barely able to use his hand muscles

"No…" he whispered "Don't…" he pointed at his belt "Secret button…Behind" she nodded and removed his belt. Above it, just a few inches above his groin, was a small black button, nearly invisible because of the suit's black color. She was about to press it, but remembered something. She turned around to face her fellow titans

"Starfire, get out of the room please" she said. Starfire looked insulted

"I will not leave" she declared "I wish to stay"
"I don't have time for this" replied Raven and pressed the button gently. The suit's upper portion fell off like a bad wrapping around a gift.

"Gore T.V got nothing on this!" said Beast Boy, he looked greener than usual

"I've seen guys that got ran over by Hummvies and looked better than that" joined Lisa

"I…I don't…" Starfire grabbed her mouth, turned back and vomited

"Cyborg, get her out!" screamed Raven, feeling quite sick herself; the mangled mess of organs in front of her didn't even resemble a human being; Red-X's chest was filled with black and blue bruises, red and black marks on his ribcage showed that he indeed broke his ribs, most, if not all of them. A hole above his right nipple was constantly ejecting blood out in rhythmic bursts and was staining the young man's chest.

"Get everyone out of here" said Raven commandingly "I need to focus" all the people present left in a straddle, barely dragging themselves out. Raven took another look at X and slapped two white latex gloves on her hands

"X, can you hear me?" she asked, not expecting an answer.

"Yeah…" he replied. His voice was hardly hearable
"I'm going to start healing you, but I may also need to operate on you. Now, the healing process alone can be painful. Do you want me to give you anesthetics?"
"No…" he said. Raven nodded and placed her white hands over his chest; her palms started emitting a dark purple light
"Raven?" came a voice, she snapped out of her dream

"You fell asleep" said Robin and gestured his hand towards her "Can you patch it up now?" she took a look at the bleeding hand

"You don't need stitches, clean it up, and wrap it in a bandage" she said and got up from her seat, walking towards the exit

"Hey, where are you going?" he asked while looking for the antiseptic

"To my room" she said and turned towards him, staring with sword-like eyes

"Robin" she started "I trust you enough to be left alone with Red-X. Do NOT betray my trust"

"IT WASN'T MT FAULT!" he snapped at her. A vase near X's bed exploded, sending shrapnel and water in all directions

"I'm going to have to ask you to keep your voice down" she said calmly. His eyes narrowed

"I lost control, Raven!" he yelled again

"Your control had nothing to do with what you have done, Robin" she said and left, leaving the young superhero alone, with only the sounds of the medical devices as company.

(S)

The automatic door closed a few seconds after she entered, she was once again surrounded by the comfort of her room

"Alone at last" she thought. The past hours were a bit too strenuous for her emotions. She was actually fighting just to keep herself together, and Robin's outburst didn't help her much. Raven scooted along her room, towards the shower. Her blue cloak was flung aimlessly and laded on her purple sheeted bed. As she kept her march towards the desired room, she struggled against her leotard, which insisted on sticking to her tired body.

At long last, the black elastic piece of clothing was also tosses away and the half demon stepped into the white shower room, a flash of black energy and the hot water were turned on.

Raven pressed her hands against the white tiles as her body slowly absorbed the soothing warmth of the water. Each drop of the fluid ran down her body, triggering numerous nerve ending to fire up in a blast of pleasure. She couldn't help the huge smile and low hum that escaped her mouth as millions of little warm fingers ran down her tired body, washing away her pains and aches, along with the dried red blood on her skin, making it all go away.

And then came the knock. Snapping the Goth out of her world of warmth and pleasure back into the world she left, where it was cold, and dark

"Who is it?" she cried "I'm in the shower!"

"It is I, Starfire" came the reply "May I enter your room?"

"I'm taking a shower Star, come back later!" she yelled

"Please, it is most urgent" said the Tamaranian; her voice came from inside Raven's room.

"How did you get in—What's wrong?" Raven stormed out of the bath, wearing only a towel and ready to scream her head off at her friend for bursting into her room, but the moment her eyes saw the look on her companion's eyes, she was startled, it was complete horror

"I…I don't know" said Starfire and grabbed the sides of her bathrobe, the ones used to cover her chest, and removed it. As the robe collapsed, Raven's eyes grew wider and wider

"Did you do this to yourself!" she asked, still in shock

"No!" she protested "I was going to take 'the shower' when I felt pain and as I looked at the mirror…" she grabbed her face, sobbing could be heard. Raven put her hand near the wound; she felt its scorching heat, still being emitted

"It's impossible" she said, shaking her head no. she walked further back and observed the wound on her friend's chest; two long red lines were stretched across it, one from each shoulder, they met between her breasts and kept running each in its own course and ending at the last of her ribs

"What is not, Raven?" she asked while putting her robe back on.

"That burn, there's only one weapon that can leave such a burn that'll have this much heat after that long time" she said.

"What weapon?" asked Starfire and turned towards the mirror in the bathroom, again inspecting the burn, she stumbled back with a scream

It was shaped like an X

"Xenothium" said the half demon

(C)

Lisa, the female android, was climbing the staircase that lead to the roof of the tower. The hatch access opened silently and she stepped into the outside world, trying to erase what she had seen out of her mind. She was bathed in the sun's pleasant heat, the rays bouncing off her metallic armor.

"What are you doing?" cam a voice from behind her, startling her. She turned around and saw Cyborg, trying hopelessly to put a smile on his face, and failing

"Nothing too special, sugar, just… Clearing my head" she answered

"Yeah, last night was pretty messy. Do you feel like having some company?" she smiled and nodded.

"How could he have done that?" asked the android the moment the two sat down "I mean, I know X was a criminal and all, but shooting him?"

"Jealousy makes people do crazy things Cy, it's about time you learned that" replied his friend

"I suppose…" he replied and stopped to think "Do you think he'll make it?"

"Well, I've people in worse conditions make it, and on the other hand, people with lesser injuries just keel over and die"

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine" he said sarcastically

"I gave you the dry facts, nothing more"

"I didn't ask for the dry facts, I asked what you think" Lisa stopped for a second

"X seems like an enduring kinda guy, he'll make it"

"I'm glad to hear it" he said and wrapped his arm around her metallic waist. The two remained there, staring at each other for hours to come.

(S)

A beep sounded across titan's tower, the clock read 1 A.M, its blue numbers glowing inside the darkness of the tower. At the living quarters, only a few of the Titans had fallen asleep; Cyborg and Lisa, who had to undergo the recharging process for their bodies to live on were each in their rooms, Cyborg on his vertical steel table, a large electric cord sticking out of his back and Lisa in hers, lying on her soft bed, two cords, similar to the one in Cyborg's back were connected to her chest armor, feeding her power cells with precious energy.

Robin, who sat beside X all day long was in his room at the present time, again pacing aimlessly with the Red-X mask staring at him from its position on the wall.

Raven, who was assigned to watch over Red-X for the duration of the night was at the med-lab and was checking the numerous charts and graphs displayed on her computer screen. On the other side of the room, was Beast Boy, who, although being ordered to go and sleep, insisted on keeping Raving company. The Goth was more than happy to have him next to her, but was forced to constantly remind him she was busy as he was trying to amuse her with his tricks and animal morphing. He morphed into a cat and leaped from behind her, landing on the brown desk. She giggled; it was funny seeing him go through all that trouble to amuse her

"Down" she told him commandingly. A little grin spread across the little kitten's face as it rolled of the table, and into her lap.

"You better go to sleep, I still have a lot of work to do" she told him. The feline nodded and yawned, resting its big head on Raven's thigh, and falling asleep. She looked at the tiny creature with affection, but then looked back at the screen. She had to find out how Starfire got hit from such a weapon when the only one using it is in a coma.

"It's just isn't possible" she hummed to herself. She spent the last two hours fast forwarding the video tapes from the med lab. X didn't even move an inch.

"seventeen twelve, seventeen thirty three, seventeen forty five, eightee- Wait, stop, rewind!" she saw something, it wasn't clear, like a blur. It didn't even last a second. The tape returned itself to the second where she saw the blur. There it was; above X's body; a black-grey blur.

"Zoom on top left corner; enhance resolution, playback in slow motion" she said. The voice activated computer complied.

"What the- " she let out, unable to believe her own eyes.

"Beast Boy, wake up!" she screamed, nodding the kitten on its head. The creature woke up and yawned

"We have to get to Starfire, now!" she took him by the neck and bolted out of the room, towards the elevator.

(T)

She snapped awake, unaware of the reason. Her tired eyes scanned her room, nothing out of the ordinary, she tasted her mouth, it felt dry.

Starfire rolled off her bed and made her way lazily across her room, towards the grey steel door. With a press of a button, the door slid open. Starfire forced her tired legs into motion and dragged herself out of the room.

As she made her way towards the kitchen, she heard a voice in the distance, behind her; a footstep. Quickly turning around, she saw a blink of her mysterious footstep maker; a black heel of a combat boot, vanishing behind the corner and followed by a trace of a black cape, long and tattered, Red-X's cape.

"Wait! Please stop!" she cried and began running towards the same corner. Surprisingly, it took her quite a while to get past it, maybe it was her tired body, or maybe the corridor was a lot longer than she remembered. Nonetheless, she made the turn and looked into the darkness of the corridor, she saw something, it was him.

X was kneeling, one knee on the ground, the other not too far from it, his long cape was covering his back, resting on his shoulders and folded against the floor, his head was down, as if he was looking at the ground for some reason and his hands were crisscrossed in front of his head. Carefully, she took a few steps towards him, he did not seem to notice her as he kept his head down, seemingly lost in thoughts

"Red-X? Is that you?" she asked while walking closer to him. He raised his head towards her, the two white eyes in his mask started narrowing down, slowly, becoming two sharp bleached tears in the skull mask

"You" he said. His voice didn't sound as usual, it was darker, frightening, it scared Starfire, forcing her to stop. He threw his arms back, still kneeling, revealing the two X saw blades

"I hate you!" he cried and lounged at her. Her instincts kicked in, she raised both her hands forward to protect her, it didn't help, X's form went right through her hands, through her, and vanished. She collapsed to her knees, each palm grabbing the opposite arm and her mouth, releasing a horrible howl of pain.

It didn't take long for Raven and Beast Boy to reach her, after seeing that she wasn't in her room, they rushed to where the scream came from and found her, lying on the ground, holding to her arms, sobbing.

"Star! Are you okay?" exclaimed the changeling, he rushed beside her, she did not answer, just kept sobbing. Raven joined him, kneeling beside her

"It was X, wasn't it?" she asked. Starfire did not answer, just nodded

"But I thought…X is in a coma, isn't he?" asked the green shape shifter. Raven nodded

"It's complicated" she said

"Starfire! What happened to her?" came a voice from behind them. Raven turned around, it was Robin

"She was attacked" said the half-demon "By Red-X"

"But I thought Red-X is-" he was cut off by Beast Boy

"It's complicated" he let out. Robin's expression darkened

"So what do we need to do?" he asked

"Wake Cyborg and Lisa, tell them to take X from the med lab and into the safety room" she commanded. Robin nodded and dashed off

"Beast Boy, go into Star's room, get some clothes for her, she'll be sleeping in my room"

"No problem" he replied, also dashing after Robin

"Come on, Star" Raven tried to make her get up, with no success.

"Give me your hand, please" she asked again, Starfire looked at her

"It burns" she said, she sounded like a terrified little girl, it scared Raven. She could say a lot of things about Starfire, but she wasn't weak

"Don't worry" she tried "Just, give me your hand, please. The Tamaranian sniffled, and in what seemed to be a great effort, took her right palm off her left arm, and placed in Raven's hands. Raven looked at the wound, it was another burn, just like the one she showed her before. It was branded on her arm, just a little below the shoulder.

Another red X

Author's note

I found out something that's very troubling to me. My chapters take great influence from the type of music I hear; Heavy Metal- action, love songs- great fluff scenes. Thing is, I just got my hands on a disc-load of Death Metal, so it inspired a horror chapter. Can you people please recommend me of some love songs so I'll be able to write some decent fluff-ness? Thanks!

Peace!