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, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.
SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to "The Life and Times of Red X", which is in my profile. Read that before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.
O-O-O
The furious battle between the Titans and the Hive was just beginning inside the lobby of the Jump City Harbor Center of Operations. While the orange-haired receptionist crouched terrified behind her desk, the Titans charged toward Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo, with Robin leading the way. He swung his bo staff downward, toward the top of Gizmo's head, but a quick blast of pink energy from Jinx sent the staff right back in the opposite direction, and Robin received a thump to the head from his own weapon. As he stumbled back, clutching his forehead in pain, Starfire and Cyborg launched a full assault of energy blasts at the three Hive members, taking out the remainder of the right wall of the lobby and throwing up a huge plume of smoke.
"I'll crush all of you!" shouted Mammoth, who had sustained only minor damage from the blasts. He charged through the smoke and grabbed the first person he saw... who turned out to be Raven. Her eyes began to glow.
"Azarath, metreon, zinthos!" shouted Raven, causing a net to loosen from the back wall and drape over Mammoth's head. As he released the cloaked Titan and stumbled backward, struggling with the net, he was tackled from behind by Beast Boy, who'd taken the shape of a tiger. Satisfied with her attack, Raven started to turn around... and it was then that four mechanical limbs looped around her arms, pinning them to her sides and picking her up from the ground.
"I got one, I got one!" Gizmo eagerly cried, holding Raven with four of his mechanical spider legs while the other four kept him anchored to the ground. Still busy keeping Mammoth and Jinx contained, Starfire briefly left from Cyborg's side and floated up to Gizmo, her hands glowing with green energy.
"You have got nothing!" she shouted, bombarding Gizmo with a series of Starbolts. The Starbolts stopped just inches away from Gizmo, blocked by an energy shield that his backpack had created around its owner's body.
"Nice try, barfbreath!" said Gizmo, lifting his hand up to his goggles and lowering them over his eyes. In less than a second, the goggles began to glow, and two laser beams shot out of them, blasting Starfire in the face and knocking her to the ground with a loud scream. "Who else wants some?"
Raven struggled furiously in the grasp of the mechanical limbs holding her, finally deciding to use her energy to help her escape. The metal began to glow black, but before she could assume control of them, they gripped tighter around her body, causing her to gasp and lose concentration.
"I can't breathe..." Raven thought nervously, watching as her friends struggled to fight the other two members of the Hive. "If I don't find a way to escape soon..."
The various items attached to the remaining walls of the lobby gave Jinx plenty of ammo with which to keep her Titan opponents at bay. She was contending with both Robin and Cyborg, whose furious attacks she quickly found herself unable to dodge. Robin landed a punch to Jinx's face that sent her all the way back to the receptionist's desk, her body splayed out on top of its oak frame.
"You're not gonna get away with attacking us," said Robin, his bo staff pointed at Jinx's throat. She simply smiled, noticing the harpoons mounted on the back wall, right next to the door. Before Robin or Cyborg could react, they found several of the harpoons flying straight at them, and the two had to turn and divert their attacks to stop themselves from being impaled. Jinx stood up on the desk and fired a wave of pink energy straight at the ceiling above Robin and Cyborg. The ceiling, as well as two chairs from the room above, caved right in, burying the two unsuspecting Titans in hundreds of pounds of wooden rubble. Jinx did a flip off of the desk and onto the rubble pile, posing triumphantly where the two Titans once stood.
"ROBIN!" screamed Starfire, her fingers tightly interlocked with Mammoth's as the two powerful forces jostled for position. She attempted to push him back and out of the building, but the huge young man was too strong to simply give way, and he pushed Starfire back even further than she had pushed him.
"I'd be worrying about myself if I were you, pretty lady," Mammoth replied, giving Starfire a hard shove that knocked her onto her back, next to the pile of rubble under which Robin and Cyborg were still buried.
"I think we've got this thing just about wrapped up, wouldn't you say?" asked Gizmo, now using a mini-helicopter blade to float in the air, holding Raven in the grip of four of his mechanical legs, and a gorilla-transformed Beast Boy in the grip of the other four. "Time to put these doofuses out to dry-"
A blast of blue energy disintegrated the rubble pile in the center of the room. The Hive members immediately fixed their gaze to the source of the energy, which turned out to be Cyborg's plasma cannon. He stood up, followed a second later by Robin, who brushed himself off and gave Jinx a cold, angry stare.
"This ain't over till we say it is!" shouted Cyborg. Inspired by the display of power, Raven once again refocused her energy, and Gizmo suddenly found all eight of his mechanical legs being bent backward, instantly freeing both Raven and Beast Boy and causing Gizmo to let out a cry of surprise and pain.
"Way to go, Rae!" shouted Beast Boy, detransforming and giving his cloaked friend a thumbs-up, as Starfire too rose to her feet and smiled at Robin.
"Now we shall commence the kicking of the butt, yes?" asked Starfire. Robin's angry expression turned into a knowing smile, and he gave a quiet nod. The battle was on again.
O-O-O
The Titans may have held a five-to-three numbers advantage over the Hive, but Red X wouldn't be nearly as lucky as he made his way to the industrial sector of Jump City, where Baddalax security headquarters was located. The building in question sat inbetween two large factories, a barbed-wire fence completely surrounding the perimeter, which consisted of a large, well-kept yard in front of a plain-looking, two story white building. A long, black road led from the street in front of the building to the front of the fence, bisecting the yard and leading to a large, cement parking lot to the right of the building, in which about six dozen cars were parked. A sliding gate guarded the entrance to the perimeter of the building, and a guard station posted by this gate made sure that only employee vehicles were able to get inside. Another gate was at the left side of the building, this one made for trucks, which were able to drive through the gate and access a large garage inside the first floor of the building.
The building looked to be about a hundred and fifty feet wide and one hundred feet long, at least from what Red X could tell as he peered through the chain links of the fence and began to assess the situation.
"Getting in here could be a serious problem..." thought Red X, knowing that in this building, legions of security guards could be around any corner. Three guards, five guards, even a dozen guards weren't much of a problem for the skilled thief. But if they appeared in numbers like they did inside the Mycoso Building... thirty, forty, even fifty guards at once... then there could definitely be problems. "I need to wait for an opportunity..."
He could easily phase through the fence and enter the yard itself, but he knew that the fence's two guard stations were manned, and these men would be capable of alerting the building's formidable security in seconds. Then, of course, Red X would be dealing with the fifty or so guards that he feared a confrontation with.
"What the hell am I so scared of, anyway?" he thought, slumping against the fence, his back to the chain links, his head pointed skyward. "I've dealt with armed guards before... this is no different. I just need to focus... I'm a thief feared throughout Jump City."
He still remembered feeling the bullet graze across his shoulder the previous night. If it had just been a few inches to the left...
He couldn't think of that now. This task was important. Someone inside this building knew exactly where the Crisis Crystal was going to be the next night. Someone inside the building knew how to gain control of an item that could very well mean that Red X would never have to fear Slade again.
It was then that Red X got his opportunity. A delivery truck was approaching the left-side gate, and Red X quickly ran around the corner of the fence to gain a better look. The truck had stopped, and the man inside the left guard station was conversing with the driver of the truck, leaving its rectangular cargo hold completely unguarded. Within seconds, Red X was standing against the side of the truck, watching as a guard walked around to the back of the cargo hold and lifted up the metal grate to inspect its contents. As soon as the grate was closed, Red X phased inside, kneeling silently in the center of the cargo hold and waiting as the truck began to drive through the now-open gate and down the short road to the garage on the left side of the building.
X knew that the rest of his mission wouldn't be nearly that easy... and as soon as the truck stopped again, he would need to make his move. There would probably be only a few guards inside the garage to take out... fortunately for him, he had the element of surprise.
The truck stopped... and Red X decided to wait. He crouched into an attack position, knowing that the first person to open the truck would probably be the driver himself... and he was most likely unarmed.
"C'mon..." thought Red X, a familiar tingle beginning to slowly course through his body again. Adrenaline... he knew it very, very well.
The grate was opened again, and sure enough, it was the driver of the truck, a slightly-overweight middle-aged man wearing a plaid shirt, overalls, and a dirty blue baseball cap with his company's name printed on the front. He never saw it coming... the foot slamming right into his face, knocking him backward and into a daze. Red X leapt out of the cargo hold, and with one powerful elbow to the back of the head, the deliveryman was out.
Red X had emerged into a dark, open room with cement walls, the truck being the only object in the room aside for a few metal dollies and an orange forklift. Two security guards who had seen Red X take out the deliveryman were immediately upon him, but before they could draw their weapons, both of them found large, sticky Xs attached to their chests, connected to a long strand of Xynothium which Red X held in each of his hands. When Red X gave a small tug, both strands snapped forward like a rubber band, and the two men found themselves helplessly hurtling toward one another, their heads bashing together a second later. The impact knocked both men out.
"Now that that's taken care of, I think I'll be going," said X, turning toward the back of the garage, where a single, gray door was the only thing standing between him and the inside of the Baddalax building. However, he would find himself dealing with two more guards, who had been posted in front of the door and were now ready to fight to keep the intruder from getting inside. They drew their weapons and began to fire, only to find their bullets deflected by a metallic, X-shaped shield that Red X was now holding in his right hand. "Ah, ah, ah, gentlemen, I don't think you want to do that..."
Red X raised his left hand, firing two sharp, shuriken-like Xs that slapped across the hands of the two remaining guards, knocking the guns from their hand and stunning them briefly. This gave Red X the time to fire two more Xs, which looped around the men's arms and bound them to their sides. In their struggling, the guards lost their balance and fell to the floor, allowing Red X to casually step over them and open the metal door leading inside the building. He walked right inside, leaving the incapacitated guards and deliveryman inside the garage, alone to ponder just how this daring intruder had outsmarted them.
O-O-O
When Red X entered the building, he found himself inside a long, well-lit hallway that looked as if it could've been inside any of the office buildings he'd robbed from in the past. A large, fake plant stood at the end of the hallway in the corner, while in front of him, across the hallway, stood several wooden doors with nameplates to the side, indicating the people who worked there.
"Of course," thought Red X, deciding to turn right and head toward the area of the hall where the potted plant sat in the corner. "This is a security firm, a place of business... most of the people here probably aren't even guards, just white-collar stiffs trying to convince other businesses that they need to hire this company's security guards."
That didn't mean, however, that this building itself wasn't still crawling with dangerous guards... the garage itself had held four of them, and Red X immediately realized that some of the guards in the building may have heard the gunfire going on outside. Whether there were guards around or not, the thief still needed to exercise at least a reasonable level of caution.
Once he reached the potted plant, he turned the corner and found himself in another long hallway... and sure enough, there were two guards in this one, standing in place in front of what appeared to be an elevator. Red X quickly stepped backward and behind the corner of the wall so that the guards couldn't see him.
"All I need to do is make it past the guards and into the elevator... the person who has the information I need is probably on the second floor," thought Red X, his mind starting to formulate a plan. "Only two guards to take out, this won't be too difficult..."
He turned the corner again and ran down the hall, immediately alerting the guards in front of the elevator to his presence. They moved toward the center of the hall to block the intruder's path, but by that point, he'd already covered half the distance between them and the end of the hallway.
"Stop, right now!" shouted the guard, his hand lowering to his weapon. "I'm warning-"
An X affixed itself to the chests of both guards, shocking them with a high-voltage blast that stunned them both and brought them to their knees. With their limbs briefly paralyzed, the two men were powerless to stop Red X as he leapt over them and casually turned toward the elevator, his finger gently pressing the 'up' button.
"Now let's hope I get a bit more of a challenge on the next floor," said Red X, walking into the elevator and smiling as the door closed and he was slowly taken up to the second floor of the building.
His hopes would be confirmed... for while the first floor was mostly offices, as well as the garage where the delivery truck had come in, the second floor was the area where Baddalax's highly-trained guards awaited assignments. They passed the time in-between assignments by eating or watching television in the various lounges placed around the second floor. Some of them kept their skills sharp in the shooting gallery or the exercise rooms, while a few of the guards just wandered the halls, talking to their friends or just relaxing in-between assignments, all while being paid top-dollar for simply waiting around and doing, essentially, nothing.
The only office to speak of on the second floor was the office of the president of Baddalax, an intelligent, business-savvy 35-year-old named Derek Voscoti. Dressed in a dark blue blazer, a bright red tie, and a light blue dress shirt tucked into a pair of well-pressed, stylish khakis, Derek had none of the combat training that his highly-talented guards did... only the business sense to realize the market for their services, especially in a crime-ridden place like Jump City.
The elevator opened into another long, well-lit hallway, and when Red X stepped out, he could see three Baddalax security guards standing by a water cooler just a few feet to his right, talking and laughing amongst themselves. Thinking they were the only security guards in the area, Red X decided to make the first move, firing two explosive Xs that struck near the guards and knocked them off their feet.
"This ain't casual Friday, you know," said Red X, pointing his hands at the three downed guards and firing a glowing Xynothium net that pinned the men to the floor before they could stand or draw their weapons. "Don't you worry, I'll only be a minute."
But the explosions had created noise, and that noise alerted every single guard in the break lounge just behind and to the left of Red X. The door opened, and one of the guards, this time a woman with long, blonde hair, poked her head out of the room.
"Hey, I heard a noise, what's going on here?"
The sight of Red X, and the three trapped guards behind him, gave the female security guard all she needed to know. She stepped out of the room, drawing her gun and pointing it right at Red X's head.
"Lady, I-"
"Everybody, we've got an intruder!" the woman shouted. An outpouring of guards emerged from the lounge, standing behind the woman and drawing their own weapons. None of them looked very happy that their break time had been interrupted, especially by someone breaking into their own company.
All in all, Red X found himself face to face with seventeen guards in all... and suddenly, the odds weren't looking very good for the costumed thief.
"Maybe... I should've tried being just a bit more subtle," he thought, worried sweat starting to form beneath his mask. The woman was staring him right in the face, the barrel of her gun aimed right at Red X's forehead. If she fired now... and certainly she was within her rights... "Hey now, you caught me, all right?"
Red X slowly raised his hands in the air, trying to be as calm as possible. Slowly, the woman stepped toward him, her gun still leveled at Red X's head.
"Get down on your knees, now! Keep your hands where I can see them!"
Clearly, the guards didn't want to kill him... but Red X certainly didn't want to be caught, either... going to jail was not something that the thief ever wanted to experience, and because of his previous crimes, he knew that if he ever did get arrested, he'd be put away for quite a long time. He had to figure out some way to escape... without getting a bullet through his head.
"I'd actually like to keep standing, if that's all right with you," said Red X, keeping his hands in the air. The blonde woman's eyes narrowed, and her voice became far more demanding.
"I said on your knees! DO IT!" By now, the woman was just a few feet away, though the other guards hadn't moved up... they were about fifteen feet down the hall, and not all of them had their weapons drawn. Again, Red X formulated a plan... and if it worked, he could play all of these guards against one another. If it didn't work... well, Maddy would have to just get used to being an only child.
"I suppose if you really want me on my knees, you could just shoot me in the leg," said Red X, his body starting to tremble, if only very, very slightly. "I sure hope this bitch doesn't take that seriously..."
She didn't, and instead of even trying to shoot Red X at all, she grabbed at him, attempting to take him down as a police officer would take down a suspect. Using the woman's own leverage against her, Red X quickly got the upper hand, twisting out of her grip and maneuvering her so that her arms were behind her back. As soon as they were, he was quickly able to materialize an X-band around them, binding her wrists while at the same time placing an X-blade to her neck. She had dropped the gun, and Red X casually kicked it back behind the two of them, still keeping the blade to the woman's neck while all sixteen of her fellow male guards now had their guns pointed at the two of them.
"Dammit..." said the woman, trying a couple of times to ram her elbows into X's stomach. The blows were weak at best, and didn't even faze the thief as he slowly stepped back, keeping the blonde woman in his arms.
"You let her go!" shouted one of the other guards. "I'm warning you! I'll-"
"Risk shooting her, that's real intelligent," Red X said casually. "Face it, you got outsmarted. Now I don't want any of you to follow me, or-"
Suddenly, X retracted his blade and quickly raised his hand to the woman's face. Placing a sticky X over her mouth, he then pushed the woman forward, right into the path of the sixteen guards. Knowing that about half of them would immediately stop to help the woman in distress, and the other half would be tripped up by the men who would stop, Red X gained a critical couple of seconds, which he used to stick an X onto the wall and phase into the next room. By the time the guards had freed their comrade and had regained their composure, the thief was completely gone.
"DAMN IT!" shouted the woman as the X was slowly peeled from her lips. "Why did you stop to help me? Now you let him get away!"
"M...mom always taught me to always help out a lady that's in trouble..." said one of the guards, blushing in embarrassment.
"She's right, and he just phased through the wall," said another of the guards, pressing his hands up against the wall that Red X had just passed through. "There's no door nearby, anyone know what this room is?"
The room, in fact, was a locker room, which at the moment was empty. Red X quickly passed by several rows of lockers, making his way to a small shower area, and then the door that led to the room's exit. As he put his hand on the doorknob, he could hear several people approaching on the other side.
"This isn't going to be a good way out," thought Red X, quickly running into one of the showers and placing his hand on the wall. "I'll have to phase through here..."
Red X opened a passage in the wall and stepped through again, the passage closing as the guards from before all rushed into the locker room, their weapons drawn.
"This is the women's locker room, you know," said the recently-freed blonde woman, annoyance in her voice upon seeing sixteen of her male coworkers enter a room built exclusively for the use of Baddalax's five women guards. "Besides... I don't even think he's in here anymore..."
O-O-O
The Teen Titans had turned the tide quickly in their battle against the Hive, having landed most of the battle's offense after gaining the upper hand when Cyborg and Robin had emerged from the rubble pile.
Now, a weary Jinx was the last-remaining Hive member still capable of fighting, as Mammoth had been knocked out after sustaining a powerful kick from Starfire, and Gizmo had been tied up by a combination of cables from Robin's utility belt and netting that Raven had used her powers to wrap him up with.
"You guys should know, I'm not finished yet!" shouted Jinx, raising her hands and firing a blast of energy at the receptionist's desk. It splintered into pieces, eliciting a scream from the orange-haired woman who had been crouching down behind it, and showering the Titans with a hail of deadly debris.
"That was your last attack, Jinx!" said Beast Boy, morphing into a t-rex and letting out a loud, ear-splittering roar. Jinx raised her arms to attack again, only to have Beast Boy's large, powerful tail smash into her side and send her flying out of the building, crashing through the door and landing on her back in the nearby harbor. She came to the surface, spitting out a large amount of water and staring nervously as all five Titans slowly made their way toward her.
Thinking quickly, Jinx climbed out of the water and blasted it with another burst of energy, sending up a huge, white spray of mist that blinded all five Titans, causing them to turn their heads. When they could see again, Jinx had vanished... but fortunately, two of her friends hadn't been so lucky.
"She would've just broken out of jail anyway," said Cyborg, trying to mask his disappointment. "Still a bummer that we didn't catch her though."
"Agreed," said Starfire, re-entering the building with the other Titans as police arrived to take the other two Hive members away. "Still, we do have another important mission to complete..."
And the person the Titans needed to see in order to complete the mission, the director of the harbor's control center, was just now entering the front lobby, shaking his head in disbelief. He was a tall, middle-aged man, with graying hair and beard and wearing a blue outfit that resembled that of a ship's captain.
"What in blazes happened here?" asked the director, staring at the tattered remnants of what had once been a very beautiful lobby.
"You just lost your Poseidon picture," said Raven, casually pointing to the completely-destroyed right wall of the lobby.
"And your receptionist," huffed the orange-haired woman, standing up and brushing herself off. "I quit!"
She stormed from the room, picking splinters from her fingers as she walked out of the lobby through the shattered wooden doorway. Still in slight shock, the director of the control center stumbled over to one of the benches that still remained intact, sitting down and placing his head in his hands.
"I know this isn't the best time to ask, but... we actually came here to find out exactly where a certain ship would be arriving at the harbor tomorrow night," said Robin.
"And if you can help us out, we'd be really, really..." Beast Boy began, interlocking his fingers in a pleading gesture, "really, really, really, really, really-"
"We get it," said Raven, her hand sliding over Beast Boy's mouth. "Really grateful."
"I... I'll see what I can do," said the director, slowly standing up and rubbing his head. "After all, if it weren't for you Titans, this building wouldn't be standing at all... come upstairs with me and I'll help you out."
O-O-O
Red X emerged into another hallway, finding himself near an intersection. He could go forward, left, right... or backward, and probably right into the arms of the guards who were most likely still chasing him through the building.
"I knew this was going to be dangerous," thought Red X, "and as long as those guards are looking for me, I won't get a moment of peace, even if I do find the person I'm looking for. I'll need to find a way to incapacitate all of the guards..."
That way, of course, was provided for him in the myriad of gadgets that his Red X suit contained. He could form a barrier that would close off a room for at least an hour... more time, Red X knew, then he would actually need.
Knowing that most of the guards on the floor were inside the various rooms, he began running down the hallways, placing energy barriers in front of every door he could. In just a few minutes, he'd closed off every lounge and training room... trapping all the guards except for the seventeen who'd emerged into the hallways to look for him. Now, even if the guards did know about Red X, they'd be unable to come after him... at least until he'd finished all of the business he'd came to the building to do.
And it was while making one last pass through the hallways that Red X had encountered exactly the room he wanted to find... a large room with wooden double doors, with a nameplate to the right side of the doors marked 'Derek Voscoti, President of Baddalax Securities Incorporated'. Red X had found his man... but there was still the small matter of the guards still roaming the halls to deal with.
"Seventeen guards," Red X said to himself, making a mental note of Voscoti's office as he began running down the hall, now the predator instead of the prey. If they'd split up, his task would be a bit longer... but either way, Red X knew exactly what he had to do. "Where might all of you have gone to...?"
The next corner that Red X turned gave him his answer. The seventeen guards hadn't split up... instead, they were all attempting to beat down one of the energy barriers that Red X had put up. A bullet hole in the opposite wall indicated that bullets certainly wouldn't be the smartest way to attempt to knock down the barrier... but it was clear that brute force wasn't working either.
Several of the guards saw Red X as he emerged into the hallway, and all but three, including the female guard, gave chase as he turned the corner. Their weapons drawn, they weren't about to let the thief get away this time. But when they entered the hallway, the thief they had been chasing was nowhere to be found.
"Look, up there!" shouted one of the men, pointing at a pair of black legs dangling in front of the guards. The legs belonged to Red X, who was hanging from the ceiling by one arm, holding onto a shuriken X that he had impaled into the plaster. Before the guards could fire their weapons, all of them found themselves being shocked by the same electricity that had incapacitated the guards in front of the first-floor elevator. They dropped their weapons and fell on all fours to the ground, and Red X dropped from the ceiling behind them, his hands pointed toward the floor.
Before any of the guards could stand, X had buried their hands and feet in a layer of sticky, Xynothium goo, keeping them on all fours and unable to go for their weapons. As the trapped guards struggled on the ground, Red X walked over to the one guard who was struggling particularly mightily... the blonde woman whom had been the source of all his trouble on the second floor in the first place. He smiled as he looked down to her blue eyes, then walked around behind her and gave her a firm slap on the rump, which was pointed high in the air with the butts of her fellow guards. She gave a loud squeal, then turned her head as much as she could, her teeth tightly clenched.
"You bastard..." she choked out, her angry voice lined with fear.
"What are you gonna do, sue me for sexual harassment?" replied Red X, giving a slight chuckle as he walked around the corner and saw the three remaining guards, still struggling to knock out the energy barrier he'd created. "Hey, fellas!"
The three guards turned, and received a bombardment of exploding Xs, knocking all three of them to the ground. They all landed awkwardly, and were writhing on the ground, groaning in pain as Red X waved farewell to them. He walked past the hallway containing the fourteen guards still stuck to the ground, and finally was back in front of Voscoti's office.
"You certainly gave me quite a fun little evening," said Red X, smiling as he slowly turned the doorknob and made his way past the double doors and into the large office. The office was much longer than it was wide, and the back wall, made entirely of glass, offered a beautiful view of the Jump City skyline, brilliant against the colorful sunset outside.
Derek Voscoti was well-prepared for intruders such as Red X... especially Red X, who he'd been warned about just this morning. He smiled casually as the thief walked up to his desk, an almost... smarmy quality in his light voice.
"I just tripped the silent alarm, you know," said Voscoti, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke. Despite his confidence, he was still afraid of what Red X could do... and Red X sensed it almost immediately.
"I know," replied Red X. "You just told me."
As Red X continued walking toward the man's desk, Voscoti slowly stood up, the smile slowly fading from his face.
"I took care of about twenty of your guards out there, so if that's who the alarm summons-" began Red X, before Voscoti interrupted with...
"It doesn't summon more guards."
O-O-O
The director of the harbor's control center had been very helpful... but for some reason, no records of any large cargo ships were coming up on his monitor... or any other records, for that matter. The hard drive had been completely wiped.
"I... I'm really sorry, I've done all I can," said the director, slumping in his chair, sad that he had been unable to help the Teen Titans after they'd managed to save his place of employment.
"It is quite all right," replied Starfire, a disappointed look on her face. "We shall... just have to look elsewhere..."
"It's an unlucky break," said Cyborg, "your computer probably got wiped because of its close proximity to Jinx's blasts. That girl brings bad luck everywhere she goes."
"Remind me to thank her for that next time I see her..." thought Raven, and Beast Boy was thinking the same thing. The Titans had been so close to gaining a crucial piece of information about the Crisis Crystal, only to have the Hive show up and ruin it at the last second. As Robin pondered exactly what do to next, his Titan communicator rang... he took it out, and his eyes immediately widened in shock.
"Titans, we've got trouble..."
"More trouble?" remarked Cyborg, gently rubbing his backside. "I'm still picking splinters out of my butt from the last fight!"
"This isn't good..." said Robin, still staring at his communicator. "According to this readout, the Baddalax Security headquarters is being attacked by-"
O-O-O
Red X's search of Voscoti's computer wasn't going well at all. Most of the files concerning any of the six men who had been at the previous night's gathering in the Mycoso Building had been corrupted or deleted... but the fact that such files existed at all indicated to the thief that he was on the right track.
"He's been working with these men as more than just a security provider..." thought Red X as more files relating to the six men came up in his search of Voscoti's hard drive. "And from the looks of what's on this computer, he's in pretty deep..."
The warning that Voscoti had received about X had probably given him enough time to make sure the thief couldn't lift anything from the files... which was perfectly fine to Red X... who had a very nice backup plan.
But as soon as he looked up from the computer screen, he heard a loud crash... and the door to the office came flying open. Standing across the room, fifty feet away, were the Teen Titans... and they were ready for a fight.
"It's over, X," said Robin, extending his bo staff and pointing it at the costumed thief as he leapt over the desk and faced down the Titans from across the room. "Somehow, I knew you'd try to steal something as soon as we were distracted."
"And what makes you so sure I didn't want to fight all of you in the first place?" said Red X, casually walking forward and extending his wrist blades. Of course, Red X hadn't expected the Titans to show up... and in his current state, slightly exhausted from having dealt with so many security guards out in the hallway, he wasn't as prepared to face them as he could be. This would be his first time fighting the Titans in many months... but as far as he remembered, their powers were the same... and his suit was still well-equipped to deal with them. "You've always given me such awesome battles."
"This is serious!" Starfire said, her eyes beginning to glow. "I am... disappointed in you... I truly thought that you wished to become a good person... and I am sad to have to fight you again. You will not get away with-"
Before Starfire could finish, she and her fellow Titans were blasted several times with exploding Xs. The Titans charged through the explosions and straight at Red X, who was charging them just as fast. The first one to reach X was Robin, who took a mighty swing with his staff, only to have the thief do a leaping somersault over Robin's head and land right behind him. X spun around and struck Robin with a kick to the face, knocking him off-balance just before Starfire and Cyborg both fired off their blasts at once, a mixture of blue and green energy that coalesced in an explosion that completely missed Red X, who dodged to the side and engaged Raven.
"You still as moody as ever?" said Red X, who repeatedly swung his wrist blades at Raven, who dodged the slashes and countered a couple of times with kicks and chops. She was agile and well-skilled in martial arts, but not nearly to the degree that Robin was, and X quickly got the better of her, landing one slash across the hood of her cloak, and another that managed to penetrate Raven's cloak and catch her across her forearm, making a small cut.
"He's still quick..." thought Raven, ignoring the cut and raising an energy shield that stopped three quick slashes from Red X. Beast Boy, seeing his teammate in trouble, rushed to the rescue by transforming into a hawk and diving for Red X's face, his sharp talons driving the thief backward until he slammed into a file cabinet. "Beast Boy!"
Raven had reacted to Red X grabbing Beast Boy's legs, spinning him around and slamming him hard into the metal cabinet. Beast Boy let out a loud squawk and detransformed, only to receive a boot right to the face from Red X.
"That should take you out of the fight for a while..." said Red X, watching as a small trickle of blood began traveling out of Beast Boy's left nostril, down to his lip. "I probably shouldn't have kicked him so hard, but that's what he gets for-"
A sharp pain shot through Red X's back as a Starbolt impacted him, followed by another, creating a burning sensation that traveled all the way from Red X's neck to the back of his legs. He turned around and was barely able to duck under Starfire's fist, which sailed past him and continued into the file cabinet, making a large dent. Before Starfire could pull back her wrist, Red X grabbed it, twisting it behind her back and placing his blade to the side of Starfire's face.
"Did I ever tell you how cute you are when you're pissed off?" asked Red X, as Starfire clenched her teeth and struggled to escape his grasp. The feeling of Starfire writhing in his grip brought another familiar twinge of lust to Red X, who just smiled under his mask and tightened his grip on the girl he considered to be the most beautiful creature in the entire world. "C'mon, X... focus... as good as this feels..."
"Leave her ALONE!" shouted Robin, striking at X's face with a powerful leaping kick. What Starfire's fist had failed to do, the sole of Robin's foot did quite well, hitting Red X right in the nose and immediately loosening his grip on the Tamaranian girl. He stumbled back, retracting his wrist-blades and blocking Robin's next kick, a spinning kick aimed at the side of his head, with his left forearm. "Whatever you have planned, X, you're not going to get away with it..."
Starfire rubbed her wrist, then watched as Robin and Red X engaged in a series of punches and kicks against one another, most of them ending up missing, but a few, like a punch Robin had aimed at X's gut, connected, and X was sent back into the wall, doubled over in pain.
Robin was soon right on top of X, his hand enclosed tightly around the thief's neck, pinning him to the wall.
"Tell me, dammit! TELL ME WHY YOU'RE HERE!"
"Maybe I don't want to..." said Red X, his voice slightly raspy due to the hand clenched tightly around his throat. Before Robin could hit him again, X reached up and sprayed a red liquid into Robin's eyes. Robin screamed in pain and stumbled backward, his hands over his face.
"Robin!" screamed Starfire, rushing to her friend's aid as he fell to one knee, his eyes still burning with intense pain. "Are you-"
"Get him, Starfire! Don't let him escape!"
But Red X wasn't thinking about escape at the moment... he still had plenty of time, and he still hadn't quite had his fill of fun for the evening. The next to attack him was Cyborg, and after leaping over one of the robot's blasts, and swinging out of the way of a punch, Red X got around behind Cyborg and pressed his hands right to the Titan's back.
"If you're thinkin' of messing with my circuits again, I don't think that's gonna work," said Cyborg, starting to turn around. "I got an upgrade, remem-"
An extremely powerful jolt of electricity ripped through Cyborg's body, and he quickly found himself in as much pain as Robin, falling to his knees and becoming extremely susceptible to a well-placed kick. X's foot slammed into Cyborg's face, knocking him on his back just as Raven approached him from behind. Already, several of the objects in the room, including the windows, had begun to take on a bright, black glow.
"Azarath, metreon, zin-"
Red X barely managed to stop Raven's attack, quickly placing an X over her mouth and leaping behind her, looking toward the back of the room to confirm that the windows were no longer glowing.
"I don't need to be cut to ribbons by thousands of shards of glass today, thank you VERY much," thought Red X. Now, the only glowing object in the room was the X over Raven's mouth, as she carefully concentrated her energy to remove it from her face. The thief wouldn't give her the opportunity, grabbing Raven by both wrists and yanking them hard behind her back, before leaping up and striking Raven with a powerful dropkick, right to the back of her head. The combination of the immense pressure on Raven's shoulders and neck, as well as the burning sensation in both of Raven's arms, threw off her concentration and caused the energy she was building up to explode, right in her face. She fell to the ground with a loud, muffled scream, a scream that immediately drew Beast Boy's attention.
With a cry of rage, he charged toward Red X, transforming into a gorilla and taking a powerful swing at X's chest with his right fist. X leaped onto gorilla Beast Boy's arm, then did a somersault right over his head before shooting a metallic band around Beast Boy's limbs, wrapping up his arms and legs and causing him to fall to the ground next to Raven.
Red X's adrenaline was in full swing, and for the first time in quite a while, he remembered another reason why he enjoyed being Red X... even why he enjoyed fighting the Titans. It was fun.
"I've FORGOTTEN how much fun it is to fight these guys..." thought Red X, turning around and coming face-to-face with Starfire, whose enraged expression and glowing eyes revealed that the Tamaranian was not having fun.
"Sanza, STOP! NOW!"
It took just three words to shake Red X nearly completely out of his euphoria... his eyes widened, and his body began to shake.
"She... she called me Sanza?" thought Red X, his fists clenching tightly. "What... what is she trying to-"
"We help you... you help us... then you go out and steal again... and then you hurt us... I am tired of putting up with you going back and forth, and I wish to know, RIGHT THIS SECOND, if you are with us, or if you are against us!"
The hurt in Starfire's voice was clear... and even Robin, who was still on the ground, rubbing his eyes, took notice, looking up at Starfire as clearly as he could. She was shaking... shaking just as hard as Red X was...
"I... I never wanted to hurt you, Starfire... I just... I just..."
Just wanted to protect his family... everything else, the powers, the fights with the Titans, the adrenaline... it was all just a bonus... a blessing that, more often than not, turned into a curse.
And again, Red X could see the tears beginning to form in Starfire's eyes. Robin couldn't see them, his own eyes still filled with tears from the severe irritation that X's liquid had given him, but Red X could see them... and right now, he didn't care.
"I'm with me."
Red X fired an exploding X at Starfire at point-blank range. The attack nearly knocked her over, but she recovered quickly enough to fire at Red X with her eye lasers, catching him on the leg and causing him to hop his next couple of steps. She lunged at him, a punch aimed straight at his face, but he swung to the side and shot out his binding cables, wrapping up Starfire's arms and knocking her off balance. She immediately fell to her knees, striking out at Red X with a kick as she fell. He leapt backward and shot out another cable that bound Starfire's ankles, then stood over her, his arms crossed triumphantly over his chest.
Starfire looked up at Red X, her teeth clenched, an amalgam of negative emotions swirling within her as she lay on the carpeted floor of the office, thrashing furiously against the bonds that held her.
"You... you... you are not like this... and yet... you are..." she thought, stopping her struggles and just looking at Red X... the betrayal now clearly evident on her face.
Red X's lust was now almost impossible to control... he knelt down beside Starfire and gently stroked his hand across her face... the situation almost a carbon copy of what had happened in the museum, several months earlier. She was helpless then... and she was helpless now.
"Why do I keep doing this?" thought Red X, watching as the sweat trickled down Starfire's brow, and she began another round of struggling. "Why do I-"
The question would go unanswered, because Robin leapt on Red X's back, pressing him face-down into the ground. As soon as X managed to roll over, Robin began punching him over and over again, his body weight crushing X's arms to his sides and making it impossible for him to fight back.
"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE STARFIRE ALONE, GOD DAMMIT!" Robin's face was contorted with rage, an almost animal rage... and the fact that Red X had tried to hurt Starfire again made everything else irrelevant. Whether Red X had helped the Titans or not, he was a criminal... and he was going to pay, right here and right now. "I'm not going to let him spend another minute hurting Starfire... this is going to end, right now!"
As the weary Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg looked on, Robin continued punching Red X, giving no indications that he was going to stop. Even Starfire soon became terrified by the display... but just as she was going to appeal to Robin to stop, Red X stopped Robin himself. Using all of his strength, Red X managed to press his feet into Robin's stomach and toss him backward, flipping Robin over and onto his back.
"A few more seconds of that and my nose would be broken..." Red X thought, lying on the ground and taking a couple of seconds to regain his composure. He could feel that both his nose and his lip were bleeding, and now he decided that it was just about time to end his 'fun' with the Teen Titans.
X and Robin made it to their feet at the same time... Red X retracted his wrist blades, while Robin prepared his bo staff. The two met in the same spot in less than a second, with Red X crossing his wrist blades and using them to block Robin's staff, causing a loud metallic clang and several sparks to form. X charged forward, swinging his blades multiple times at Robin's head, but Robin used his staff to block every time, changing the staff's position and twirling it around as the two slowly made their way toward the back of the room.
At the same instant, Robin and X both decided to put away their weapons, and moved on to hand-to-hand combat, with Robin quickly backed up against the desk as he attempted to dodge a flurry of quick kicks and even quicker punches from his costumed nemesis. Robin's speed and experience gave him the upper hand, however, and he was able to reverse one of X's punches into a shoulder block, which stunned X long enough for Robin to be able to kick him hard in the shin. Red X fell forward, and Robin leapt out of the way, allowing X's face to slam straight into the front of the desk.
"Had enough yet?" asked Robin, picking up the stunned thief and lifting him up onto the desk before climbing up with him, keeping Red X in a headlock the entire time. He released X from the headlock, only to strike him with a kick in the chest that nearly sent X tumbling off the side of the desk, before he was barely able to steady himself and regain his balance.
"He's never going to let me leave..." thought Red X, realizing that he was now trapped up against the side of the desk and left extremely vulnerable to Robin's next attack. Thinking quickly, he picked up the flat-screen computer monitor that had been sitting on the desk, yanking it up with enough force to rip it free from the cord connecting it to the console sitting underneath. As Robin leapt up to strike, Red X brought the monitor, screen-first, right onto Robin's knee. With a cry of pain, Robin collapsed on top of the desk, and Red X quickly kicked him off the back of the desk, knocking him into the office chair sitting behind it and causing the chair to slide all the way back into the window. As a dazed Robin attempted to recover, Red X shot out two metallic Xs that bound Robin's wrists to the armrests of the chair, temporarily holding him in place. "I think the question is, Robin... have you had enough?"
Suddenly, Red X could feel two powerful arms looping around his own, forcing his arms up into the air. Two hands clasped tightly behind his neck, and Red X felt himself being lifted clear off of the desk and pulled backward.
Starfire had broken free of the metallic bands that had been holding her, and was now keeping Red X locked in a powerful full-Nelson hold. She began flailing his body about in her grasp, intensifying the hold and the pressure it was having on his neck. Slowly, Red X could feel the oxygen leaving his body.
"Let us see how well you enjoy not being able to move your arms!" shouted Starfire as she angrily flailed X about like a limp rag doll. Meanwhile, Robin was trying to reach the nail file concealed in one of his wristbands, attempting to free himself from the chair in case anything happened to Starfire.
Red X could slowly feel himself passing out in Starfire's grip... he had to do something, anything to break free, or he would pass out and wake up somewhere where he didn't want to be... a prison cell.
It would be up to Red X's legs to again extricate himself from a situation which his arms could not. He leapt up and wrapped his legs tightly behind Starfire's back, attempting to use this leverage to reduce the pressure that her hold was putting on his arms and neck. Her hold remained strong, however, and he could continue to feel the air slipping away... he even blacked out, if only for a split-second.
"You will not get away this time..." said Starfire, a hint of sadness in her voice. Red X tried gripping his legs even tighter around Starfire, but her arms weren't going to budge, no matter what he did.
Robin watched, and could see the sadness in Starfire's eyes, even through the angry green glow. She had never wanted to fight Red X again... and had even come to view him... no, not Red X, but Sanza Salazar, the teenage boy behind the mask, as a friend... a friend worth saving, a friend worth protecting...
"Starfire... I know you cared about him, but... but he's a criminal... he's always going to be a criminal, even if he isn't evil like Slade... and I don't want him to hurt you."
A split-second of hesitation... that was all it took for Red X to free himself. Just before he would've passed out for good, he could feel Starfire's grip loosen, ever so slightly... and he thrust his legs up and forward, putting Starfire in the air. Surprised by the sudden lift, she released X's arms entirely, allowing him to swing forward even more, ducking and watching as her forehead careened right into the edge of the desk. Her forehead smashed into the hard wood, and she was knocked out instantly, having sustained a blow that would've given a human a debilitating concussion. Her Tamaranian strength meant that she was largely unharmed, and would probably wake up in less than a minute... but that didn't matter to Robin, who grew outraged at seeing Starfire harmed in even the slightest way. He burst free from the armrests of the chair and lunged forward, grabbing Red X and pulling him back up onto the desk.
Still woozy and exhausted from Starfire's full-nelson hold, Red X was defenseless, having used up most of the rest of his strength to throw Starfire off of him. He managed to throw one weak, slow punch, which Robin easily ducked under before grabbing Red X by the wrists.
"I told you not to hurt Starfire..." said Robin, staring straight into Red X's eyes. "Now I'm going to make you pay."
With all of his strength, Robin picked Red X up and flung him backward, behind the desk and to the left of the office chair. The other three Titans, who had been recovering from their own wounds and watching what had been happening from the front of the room, gasped when they realized what was about to happen. Raven, the X still stuck to her mouth, let out a muffled scream as Red X slammed into the window, shattering the glass and starting to fall. Robin immediately lunged for Red X, barely saving him by grabbing the thief's hand, holding onto him for dear life.
"What... what the hell was I thinking?" thought Robin, gripping tightly onto Red X's hand as the costumed thief dangled above the concrete below. Red X looked up at Robin, a bit rattled from the impact against the window, now breathing heavily as the Boy Wonder started to pull him back in.
"R...Robin..." said Red X slowly, looking straight into Robin's eyes. "Tell Starfire... tell her I'm sorry-"
"Just shut up," replied Robin, exerting a great deal of strength as he continued trying to pull Red X back up.
"Wait..." said Red X, "I have... one more thing... to tell you..."
Robin didn't notice Red X, slowly lifting his other hand and charging it up with Xynothium energy. He didn't even reply to X, still slowly attempting to pull him back up through the broken window.
"It was only... a two-story drop," said Red X, before he blasted Robin with an exploding X, right in the face. Robin let out a scream and fell backward, his grip on Red X immediately slipping away.
"DAMMIT!" shouted Robin, painfully crawling back to the window and looking down, expecting to see Red X lying on the ground, writhing in pain, or unconscious, or even dead... but was instead shocked when he saw... absolutely nothing at all. Nothing but broken glass on the pavement below. "What the..."
By now, the other three Titans had made their way to the broken window, and even Starfire had woken up, rubbing her throbbing forehead as she looked down to the pavement.
"Can't believe I forgot that this is only a two-story building," said Cyborg, his voice lined with regret and disbelief.
"Well, what are we all waiting for?" asked Robin. "He couldn't have gone too far, we have to follow him!"
Robin leapt out the window, followed immediately afterward by Cyborg. Beast Boy started to jump, but Raven put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn around. With a couple of hard tugs, she managed to get the X off of her face, then slowly began to speak.
"I can... float us both down," said Raven.
"Are you okay?" Beast Boy replied, still concerned for Raven's health after the painful blow he'd seen her take during the fight. "And I was actually just gonna turn into a bird on the way down-"
"I'm fine," said Raven, before taking Beast Boy's hand and gently floating down with him to the ground. Starfire lingered by the window for several seconds, no longer rubbing her forehead... instead, she just slumped by the window, still trying to figure out exactly how she should feel. Should she be angry? Sad? Afraid?
So much had happened in the past twenty-four hours... Red X had so dramatically re-entered all of their lives... and Starfire couldn't help but wondering that he was going after the same thing that the Titans were...
"I still do not understand," she thought, her hand pressed against her cheek. "You tell us of this crystal, and then go after it yourself... do you wish to revive Terra as well? Or... or do you just want the crystal for yourself, just like you wanted the suit..."
And as much as Starfire wanted Red X... no, wanted Sanza Salazar to be a good person, to be a friend... if he was a true criminal at heart, then she was just hurting herself by expecting him to change.
And with that hurt fresh in Starfire's heart, she leapt down from the window and rejoined her fellow Titans.
O-O-O
The Teen Titans never thought to look in the parking lot... it was unfortunate, because that was exactly where the weary Red X was headed... as darkness now shrouded the building, he crept back to the parking lot, where his back-up plan was currently waiting for him.
Derek Voscoti had been tied to an orange forklift, the lift raised all the way and his arms bound above his head by X-bands that secured his wrists to the lift, his left hand to the left metallic lift bar and his right hand to the right metallic lift bar. He would've tried calling out for help, had there not been a sticky X placed over his mouth, muffling all of his words. None of his employees had gone out to their cars... it wouldn't have mattered much anyway, seeing as how the lift was concealed by the building's shadow, and his body was pressed tightly to the wall of white brick that made up the right side of the building.
Slowly, he could feel the lift being driven backward, until there was about twenty feet of space in-between his body and the wall of the building. The lift was being driven by Red X, who slowly walked out of the lift and around to the front, coming face-to-face with the president of Baddalax Security. He reached up, slowly sliding his finger across the X that covered Voscoti's mouth.
"I can remove this, but I'm pretty sure you're going to scream when I do," said Red X, "so I want you to promise me that you're not going to scream. Do you promise?"
Before Voscoti could nod, X grabbed him by the jaw, his fingers locking tightly around the man's chin.
"Now before you say yes, just a warning... I don't like people who break their promises to me. I just kicked the shit out of the Teen Titans, whom you apparently sent to capture me... now think about it, if I can beat them... what do you think I can do to you, especially since you're pretty helpless right about now. If you scream... well, like I said, I don't like it when people break their promises."
X then ripped the sticky red tape from Voscoti's mouth, almost causing him to let out a scream... not from wanting to alert anyone, but from sheer pain... he managed to keep himself silent, and his entire body began trembling in fear. He'd obviously expected the Titans to take care of Red X... Sedaris certainly told him they would.
"You're going to tell me what you know about Project Shattered Earth, or at least what you know about any one of the six assholes working on Project Shattered Earth. All I want from you is a place and a name, that's it. Don't give me an office building, I want a house, or somewhere not going to be very well-guarded... somewhere where I can get to one of them, just like I got to you."
"I swear, I swear to God I don't know anything about-"
"Wrong answer," snapped Red X, walking back around and climbing inside the forklift, triggering the lift forks to slowly move downward, further and further until Voscoti was on his knees...
"What are you doing!" screamed Voscoti, trying desperately not to panic.
"I'm crushing you," replied Red X. "This forklift is rated at 5,000 pounds, which means it can lift something upward with a force of 5,000 pounds... or press downward, probably with an equal amount of force. If I make this go all the way down, I'm pretty sure I can snap you in two."
Obviously, Red X wasn't going to snap Voscoti in two... even he had his limits, though he wasn't about to let the man he currently had strapped to the forklift he was controlling know that.
"P...please... I don't know anything about... please... I've got kids-"
"No, you don't have kids, I looked in your wallet and if you had kids, you'd have their picture in there. You also don't have a wedding ring, so you don't have a wife either. Not like I even give a damn. You tell me what I want to know, or the last few minutes of your life are going to be very, very painful."
Voscoti trembled even more... he was almost about to urinate himself, and though he feared retribution for revealing any information about his clients, he feared being snapped in two even more... it was either crack now, or crack literally in about ten seconds.
"B...Barrington... Michael Barrington, he's in charge of the shipping company..."
Red X immediately jumped out of the forklift and walked around to face the trembling Voscoti as he gave the thief the information he wanted.
"Barrington's leading some... some youth ministry group, he's rented out an under-21 club for the evening... he's gonna be there tonight..."
A youth ministry group? Religious convictions or not, it was clear that Michael Barrington was not the man of God that he pretended to be... his involvement in a plan like Shattered Earth was a testament to that.
"Where's the club? Where is it?" shouted Red X.
"It's The Scene, it's a building on 17th Street, just a mile or so from here... please, I swear, that's all I know-"
"You know a lot more, I'm sure, but that's all I need," said Red X, patting the man's cheek as he quickly ran out of the parking lot. "You've been a BIG help, I'm sure the Titans will pick you up sooner or later...!"
And just like that, Red X was gone, leaving the trembling executive still tied to a forklift in the parking lot of his own company.
"The Titans?" thought Voscoti, his eyes wide. "But I thought they... I thought Red X kicked their asses!"
Despite the fact that Red X was gone, Voscoti knew he didn't want to be tied to a forklift any longer than he had to be. He began screaming at the top of his lungs, his voice filled with terror.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME! DAMMIT, HELP ME NOW!"
And within thirty seconds, the Titans were in the parking lot. They freed Voscoti from the forklift and gently helped him to his feet.
"Sir, are you all right?" asked Robin, checking to see if X's latest victim had sustained any injuries. "We can take you to the hospital if-"
"I'm fine... thanks," Voscoti grumbled, rubbing his sore wrists.
"Red X... did you see where he went?" Cyborg queried. Voscoti hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"He... he ran out of the parking lot, but I don't know where he's going next," said Voscoti. "I could send the Titans after him, but... if they end up at The Scene, there's a chance they might figure out what Barrington's up to... and if this plan is jeopardized, Sedaris is going to tear me apart... Barrington's men can take care of X."
Voscoti's words had triggered to Robin that something wasn't quite right. He and the others hadn't even asked if the man knew where Red X was going... and they weren't going to, either. But Red X had obviously tied this man to a forklift for a reason... just like he'd come here for a reason.
"He didn't take anything... there's no treasure here, nothing all that valuable... he came here for information... and somehow, I think he got what he came for."
Starfire's suspicions were heightened as well, and Raven could sense from Voscoti's emotional vibes that he was hiding something.
But the Titans couldn't prove anything... and Voscoti wasn't going to give anything up. Not to the Titans, who he knew couldn't and wouldn't torture him.
It was Red X who'd come out ahead this night... and now, the thief was well on his way to his second stop of the evening.
He just had no idea of knowing that he was on his way into a trap...
O-O-O
It's the return of Red X Classic... fighting the Titans, lusting for Starfire, and having no qualms about getting rough with the people that stand in his way. But is Red X's luck going to continue? It's a 16th Century-style duel of Protestantism and Catholicism, with a healthy dose of naval warfare, next time on Maiden of Stone!