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
Sanza knew he would be sore when he woke up that Friday morning... a night of stealing tanks, rescuing people from buildings, and battling pink-haired, luck manipulating supervillainesses could definitely do that to a person. He sat up in his bed and stretched out his arms, which took several seconds for him to actually get above his head without feeling that they were in excruciating pain. Today was an important day... the day before Maddy's birthday, and also a day when his class would be going on a field trip to a development office for LaredoSoft. It was the field trip that prompted Sanza to wear his Red X outfit under his clothing that day, keeping his mask and gloves tucked into the pockets of his jeans.
"I should definitely try to do a bit of unauthorized snooping today... especially if they're planning to attack the city any time soon. If just that one little device could cause an earthquake that big, who knows what they might do with their real technology..."
That night, of course, would be something else Sanza had been looking forward to... another date with Cleo, whom had all but declared that she was going steady with him. If there was anyone who could make Sanza feel a bit calmer about everything that was going on lately, it was Cleo... who just so happened to a member of the class that was going on the field trip that day.
After putting on his clothes, Sanza went downstairs and had breakfast like he always did, engaging in conversation with his mother and sister at the breakfast table. Maddy always left a few minutes before Sanza did, because her bus came sooner. Once Maddy had left, Maria decided that it was time once again to remind her son about his sister's impending birthday.
"Here, Sanza," said Maria, walking over to Sanza and handing him a $20 bill. "This is for your sister's present... go out and get her something today. Don't spend this on yourself or Cleo... I want you to keep the receipt so I'll know exactly what you spent the money on."
Maria was stern as she spoke the last few words, knowing from experience that Sanza couldn't always be trusted to spend money that he was given for the purpose that it had been given to him for. Sanza rolled his eyes and pocketed the money, prompting his mother to glare at him one last time.
"I mean it, Sanza..."
"I'll get her something nice, don't worry," he said, rising from the table and slinging his backpack over his shoulders. He hadn't intended to spend the money on anyone but Maddy anyway. Cleo, who had a job, had already graciously offered to pay for everything on the date that night, despite Sanza's repeated reminders that it wasn't proper for the woman to pay. Secretly, of course, he was greatly appreciative that Cleo was paying for everything, since he didn't have a cent to his name.
When he exited the kitchen and walked down the fire escape to the sidewalk, he noticed that somebody had already parked in the spot where the bus was going to be... a very familiar green car, with a very familiar occupant leaning her head out the passenger-side window.
"Sanza!" shouted Cleo, waving with one hand while her other outstretched arm rested on the steering wheel. "Hey, the bus is for chumps, ride with me to school, okay?"
Cleo had occasionally picked Sanza up to take him to school before, and on this particular day, it was a welcome surprise. Sanza accepted Cleo's offer, nodding his head and running over to her car, opening the door and climbing inside. He reached behind and placed his backpack on the back seat of the car before turning back around and smiling at his friend.
"Thanks, I didn't expect you to be here-"
"You never do, that's why you're always smiling when I pick you up," she said, leaning over and kissing Sanza on the cheek. "It's usually a lot more pleasant to be surprised... at least from what I can tell."
"Well, this was pretty pleasant," replied Sanza, as Cleo slowly started driving down the street. It was about a mile from the Salazars' apartment to the school, which meant that the two teenagers would have at least a few minutes to talk to one another. It was Sanza who started to speak, but Cleo cut him off immediately, wishing to talk about a far more pressing matter.
"Did you hear about that earthquake yesterday?" asked Cleo. Sanza nodded... of course he'd heard about the quake, he'd been the one right at the center of it! "I found out because a couple of my friends felt it... apparently it was some kinda freak thing, only over a really small area... what's great is that nobody died. There were quite a few people hurt, but all of them are expected to recover."
"That's a huge relief..." thought Sanza, leaning back into his seat. He would certainly hate to have caused any innocent people to die, even if it was technically an accident. "That's really cool."
"Yeah, apparently the Teen Titans had a lot to do with making sure many of those people wound up safe," said Cleo, looking over at Sanza and smiling. "And somebody else was there too... that Red X guy, you remember him, right? The guy who saved me and your mom and sis back at the Fall Carnival?"
Sanza nodded, not surprised that word had gotten out about Red X helping people in the quake. He just wondered how the media would react to his attack on the convention just a few hours earlier... it was getting to the point where nobody really knew what to think about Red X anymore, and was one of the reasons why he truly didn't like being bothered to perform heroic acts. It would confuse way too many people if Red X was seen robbing a safe one moment and saving some little girl's kitten the next. People would start thinking that Red X was a schizophrenic...
"Apparently he was seen at the convention center, too... Rob's gonna be really disappointed, because they've had to cancel the expo. He doesn't even get to come on the field trip today because he's not in Technology Applications class like you and I are. As for me, well... Red X seems like a real hero, even if he does run around stealing things. He's not like the other weirdos that attack the city... they don't care about human life at all, but apparently, Red X does."
"Y...yeah, he seems like a pretty cool guy to me," said Sanza, almost losing himself in Cleo's eyes as he listened to her talk about Red X. Hearing her speak so admirably of him made Sanza wonder if perhaps he should tell Cleo that he was indeed Red X. It wouldn't be that hard to do, he was wearing the suit under his clothes... but at the same time, he didn't know how Cleo would react, even if she did seem to like Red X. He hadn't told his mother and sister yet either, and they had to be higher priorities to Sanza than Cleo was. "The guy under the mask, what do you think he's like? You know, Red X's true identity."
"Oh... oh, I bet he's handsome..." said Cleo, a twinkle in her eyes as she came to a stop at a red light about four blocks from the school. "I mean, not handsome like you, of course... maybe, I dunno, blonde or something? Maybe a shorter version of Brad Pitt. Except Brad Pitt has more muscles, so..."
"Is that the first guy all ladies think about?" Sanza thought to himself, rolling his eyes as Cleo mentioned Brad Pitt's name. "Seriously, there are other handsome men out there. Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise... oh, shit, she's got me thinking about handsome men! Yuck!"
The light turned green, and once again, the car began making its way down the streets of Jump City. By now, Cleo had stopped thinking about Red X, and had once again started thinking about Sanza, whom she knew would probably be busy the next day with Maddy's birthday party. She was seeing him that night, of course, but knew that the next day, Sanza would be at his sister's twelfth birthday party, bored out of his mind.
"Sanza, where's your sister's party at tomorrow?" asked Cleo, her fingers drumming on the steering wheel as the car came to a stop at yet another red light.
"Chuck E. Cheese," replied Sanza, "which I guess isn't so bad, because I know that my mom's probably going to give me a bunch of money to play the games so I stay out of my sister's hair. Still, all those little girls running around... god, it's gonna be so crazy..."
"Want me to come over there tomorrow and keep you company?" asked Cleo, reaching over and gently touching Sanza's shoulder. "I know I'm not invited to the party, but a restaurant is a public place, so..."
Sanza smiled, flattered with Cleo's suggestion and happy that she would be so concerned for his welfare during his sister's birthday party. Still, the sight of Sanza's friends probably wouldn't sit well with some of Maddy's friends, who would probably complain about them to Maddy. Of course, Maddy didn't really mind Cleo, her relationship with her mostly consisting of jokes at she and Sanza's expense. Though Cleo would certainly be a welcome sight to Sanza at his sister's birthday party, the thought of a potential confrontation did much to discourage Sanza from accepting the idea, and he slowly shook his head.
"Better not," he said, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "I know it's technically a public place, but... some of Maddy's friends are really territorial, and I'm not sure how well my mom would take the idea, so..."
"That's all right," replied Cleo, though Sanza could tell that she was disappointed to. "Just... don't get yourself killed, or anything. I heard those ballpits can be pretty deep, and small children are just like little piranhas."
Cleo's piranha comment brought a quick laugh from Sanza, just as the car began to pull into the school parking lot. She began to laugh as well, not because of her own joke, but because to her, Sanza's happiness was contagious, and anything that made him laugh made her laugh too, regardless of how funny that it actually was.
"I guess I'll see you after first period, then," said Cleo, stepping out of the car and walking around to meet Sanza as he emerged from the passenger side. She leaned over and kissed him warmly before turning and walking toward the school's entrance, Sanza lagging several steps behind.
Sanza treasured the times that he had alone with people like Cleo... she was funny, she was sweet, and she always seemed to brighten his day. If Sanza couldn't have Starfire, which at this point seemed almost a certainty, then Cleo was the next best thing... and perhaps, thought Sanza, Cleo might actually turn out to be much better...
Neither he nor Cleo had any idea how prophetic their conversation about Red X would be... and Sanza still had no idea that the men who were about to mount a destructive assault on Jump City were now targeting him, hoping to eliminate him before he could throw any sort of wrench into their plans. It would be people like Cleo that would prove to be Sanza's Achilles heel... and neither of them had any idea how much danger they were truly in.
O-O-O
Jump City was beautiful in the morning sunlight... the low angle at which the rising sun reflected against the glass buildings gave them a warm, yellow glow, and the view of the buildings from Terra's room in Titans Tower was spectacular. So many buildings, with so many people working and living inside of them... and Terra had twice almost destroyed them all. The second and most recent time, she would have been completely oblivious... a mere weapon, controlled by a diabolical scientist.
"The only reason I'm alive... is because that madman wanted to use me as a weapon... and if Beast Boy and Red X hadn't shown up to stop him, I would have been... I would have been..."
Terra hadn't spoken to Beast Boy since she'd stormed out of the main room the previous night, too racked with grief and guilt to speak to anyone before she'd simply gone to bed and had slept a dreamless sleep. When she woke up, she still felt horrible... and had still denied Beast Boy any chances to speak with her. It wasn't that she was angry with him... though she did wish he'd have told her about being used as a weapon as soon as she'd been revived.
But then, of course, Terra might not have been willing to return to the Titans... she had already been in a fragile emotional state the night of her revival, and news like that may well have pushed her over the edge. She couldn't blame Beast Boy, or anyone else for that matter, for not telling her about the true purpose of her revival. Besides, the man who revived her had been pointed out to her just minutes after she'd been brought back... it was her fault that she just couldn't put two and two together.
A knock came on Terra's door... immediately thinking that it was Beast Boy, she hesitated to speak... she wanted to talk to him again, but wasn't quite sure if she was ready. As she started to trigger the mechanism that would open the door and allow whoever was outside to come in, she heard a voice begin to speak... and it wasn't Beast Boy's.
"Terra, it's Robin... I just wanted to ask you how you were doing."
"Robin..."
Terra opened the door and gestured for Robin to come in, a disappointed look clearly evident on her face. Robin could tell that she'd probably been expecting Beast Boy, and offered to go get him before Terra shook her head.
"I can wait a little while longer to talk to him," Terra said. "As for me... I guess I'm still just a bit shellshocked about that piece of info last night... about how those people we're going after wanted to use me to-"
"It's over now... you're not going to be a weapon anymore, and those people aren't going to be destroying the city at all if we have something to say about it. We're going to go scouting around the city today to see if we can find anywhere that those people might be manufacturing a new weapon."
The earthquake had been caused by a seismic generator... Robin had heard of the device only once before, when he had mistakenly thought that Slade had been trying to use such a device to destroy the city. Now, it seemed, his worst nightmares were coming true... but it wasn't Slade causing the destruction, it was a new evil... perhaps an evil even worse than Slade himself.
Or perhaps, thought Robin, a group under the control of Slade... it wasn't entirely out of the question, though he knew that it was probably his own paranoia that caused him to think that Slade was the cause of everything. Slade himself hadn't been seen ever since the events of Mt. Cappalani, when Red X had been too afraid for his own safety to detonate a device that would likely have caused the deaths of both himself and Slade.
"He had a chance to do what Terra did... and he couldn't go through with it," thought Robin, still slightly bitter that Red X hadn't taken the opportunity to destroy Slade when he had the chance. "I guarantee that Slade's going to come back... and he's probably going to come after you when he does."
"Robin!" shouted Terra, derailing the Boy Wonder's train of thought. In his internal musings about Slade and the generator, he'd been ignoring Terra's comments for the last half minute. "I was trying to tell you that I'm going out with all of you to try and find these guys! I'm not going to let them get away with what they tried to make me do..."
"So... you're feeling better, then?"
"Yes..." said Terra, though her nod was slightly tentative... she knew that she needed a little bit more time to be fully prepared to return to battle. And she also needed to speak to Beast Boy. "Are we going out right now?"
"This afternoon," Robin replied, turning away from Terra and starting to leave the room. "Breakfast should be done in a few minutes... are you going to be-"
"Yeah, I'm coming," said Terra, watching Robin disappear as the door slid closed behind him. She walked back over to her bed and sat down, looking up at the ceiling while slowly kicking her legs beneath her. "Even though I'm not really all that hungry..."
O-O-O
"Raven, how long do you think Terra's going to be like this?"
Beast Boy had been reluctant to visit Raven's room, but knew that the only way he was going to get any answers about the way that Terra was feeling, besides speaking with Terra herself, was by consulting with Raven, the team's resident empath. Not only did Raven most likely know a lot about Terra's emotions, but speaking with Raven was always comforting for Beast Boy... even when she treated him with sarcasm and contempt.
"Depends," said Raven, seated on a chair facing away from her dresser and looking up at Beast Boy, who was standing a few feet in front of her. "She's still troubled about everything that she's done since meeting us... and finding out that she was going to be used as a weapon is obviously disturbing to her."
"It's just that... I want Terra to be happy, but every time that it seems that she is happy, something happens to make her sad again... someone says something, or does something... sometimes she'll just be standing around thinking, and she'll become as mopey as you! Uh... no offense."
"None taken," replied Raven, though the look on her face clearly gave away that she wasn't too happy with Beast Boy's comment. "Beast Boy, she spent ten months in a stone prison, probably spending a lot of that time having nightmares about who knows what. Do you know what post-traumatic stress disorder is?"
"Uh... no?" Beast Boy replied, scratching his head. "Is that like when you're at a restaurant, and the lady messes up your order, so-"
"No, it's not that, Beast Boy," said Raven. "It's when something horrible happens to you... so horrible that you keep seeing it in your head over and over again. You dream about it at night, you think about it during the day..."
Now Beast Boy was beginning to understand what Raven meant, though he still didn't quite know why Terra was acting the way that she was. She had told him that she remembered some of her time as a statue, but that most of it had been like sleeping... so why would she be suffering so much from what Beast Boy figured to be an extended nap?
"I... I guess I understand, but... does that mean that I shouldn't say anything to her?"
Raven shook her head.
"Actually, it would probably help her to have someone nearby to be there for her... to empathize with her and to talk to her when she needs someone to make her not feel so scared and alone. I think you're doing a good thing by trying to talk to her, Beast Boy. She really does care about you, and I think she trusts you far more than she does the rest of us."
Beast Boy listened to Raven's words carefully, and was quickly able to draw meaning from them, understanding that it would be up to him to make Terra feel better, no matter how guilty or how sad that she was. He thanked Raven, and turned to leave her room, just as another thought entered his head, causing him to stop in the doorway.
"Did... did Raven just describe the same thing that she already does for me?"
Lately, and especially in recent weeks, Raven had almost always been the one to make Beast Boy feel better whenever something had been troubling him. Her advice had given him both strength and wisdom, and even though she'd been reluctant to give it at first, as time went on, she seemed less and less uncomfortable with talking to Beast Boy, as long as he tried to refrain from being funny.
"So... are you going to talk to Terra, or... you're just standing in my doorway," said Raven, clearly trying to get him to go out into the hallway so she could close her door. "Just uh... just move forward, just a little bit."
"Sorry," said Beast Boy, laughing a bit as he took a step forward, allowing the door to close behind him. He began walking down the hall toward Terra's room, when suddenly, he heard a loud alarm, and saw flashing red lights filling the hall of the tower. "Aww, man..."
There was trouble in Jump City again.
O-O-O
"Now, this is the engineering facility, where our employees actually design the software to run the weapons that are created in the production facility a few miles out of town. From there, the weapons are then sent to the military, who purchases our products at the rate of..."
The tour of LaredoSoft had been uneventful... far too uneventful for Sanza's taste. He languished toward the back of the group, placing himself as far away from the tour guide or the teacher as he possibly could in order to relieve himself of the boredom of the tour by talking to Cleo every few seconds. The two of them talked in low whispers, getting laughs by making jokes about the female tour guide's slightly plump figure, or about what she did whenever she got off of work, most of the jokes revolving around eating.
"I bet she's hungry," whispered Sanza, watching as the tour guide led the group past a long row of vending machines. "I bet that took all of her strength not to buy something from one of those machines."
"I can just see her, I can see her like, hitting the machine, over and over," replied Cleo, causing Sanza to let out a quiet laugh. "Like... 'where's my candy bar? Gimme ten! Gimme twenty!'"
It wasn't long before Cleo was laughing too hard to continue her joke, and too loudly to not draw attention from the teacher, who walked back toward the end of the group and began reprimanding the redhead for her actions.
"That woman is trying to tell us about this place, and you're back here making way too much noise!" hissed the teacher, who by now had caused several other students to look back and see what he was doing, causing a much bigger distraction than Cleo herself was doing. "Do you want to get back on the bus? I can put you right back on that bus, little missy!"
"I wanna get back on the bus," grumbled Sanza, deliberately loud enough for the teacher to hear. This was his opportunity to get away from the group so that he could become Red X and investigate this place further, and he wasn't going to waste it. The teacher immediately turned away from Cleo and faced Sanza.
"What did you say?" asked the teacher, but one of the students in the group was more than happy to repeat it for him. A boy with glasses and a very squeaky voice tugged on the teacher's sleeve to get his attention, even as several other students tried to pull him away, unhappy that the class dork would so eagerly rat Sanza out.
"He said that he wanted to get back on the bus," said the kid in glasses, sniffling and scrunching up his nose to correct the bridge of his glasses, which had started to slip off of his nose.
The teacher narrowed his eyes at Sanza, before pointing angrily in the direction from which the group had just come. He'd put up with Sanza's shenanigans before, and wasn't about to have one of his students acting up on a field trip.
"Go back to the bus," said the teacher, prompting Sanza to shrug his shoulders and immediately begin walking in the direction that the teacher had pointed. "I'm going to write a referral for you as soon as we get back to the school."
The teacher then turned and walked away with his other students, but Cleo lagged behind, watching Sanza as he casually walked down the hallway without a care in the world. She felt guilty for getting him in trouble, knowing in her heart that he'd only spoken up so that the teacher would get off of her case and jump on his instead. She quickly ran over to Sanza, placing a hand on his shoulder and prompting him to turn around. As soon as Sanza turned, Cleo grabbed him, placing her hands on the sides of his face and pulling his lips to hers.
"What... was that for?" said Sanza as soon as Cleo's lips pulled away from his. She smiled sweetly, her hand lightly brushing his cheek.
"You know what it was for," she replied. "But why did you... I mean, I probably wouldn't have even gotten in that much-"
"I have my reasons," said Sanza. "You should probably get back with the rest of the group, before you do get in trouble..."
Cleo nodded, and quickly rushed back to join her fellow students, leaving Sanza standing by himself in the middle of the hallway. Of course, he had no intention of going back to the bus... he was going to become Red X and find out exactly what these LaredoSoft people were up to, and whether or not they were in the process of designing a city-destroying doomsday device at this very facility.
He couldn't just become Red X out here... there were people who could see him, security guards and workers were likely all over the place. Instead, he would have to find a bathroom in order to change... he'd remembered seeing the restrooms a few minutes earlier, and retraced his group's path until he found two wooden doors, one of them marked 'Men's', and the other marked 'Women's'.
"Here we go," thought Sanza, slowly pushing open the men's room door. Suddenly, he could feel a hand roughly grab his arm, quickly turning him around. He found himself staring face to face with a tall man wearing a well-pressed black suit, not unlike a member of the Secret Service... the man was even wearing sunglasses. "Uh... I was just going to the bathroom before-"
"You've been identified as a security risk," said the man, "and you're going to need to come with me."
Sanza's mind began to race as he wondered what exactly this man could be wanting him for. Did he know that Sanza had been removed from the tour group, and was simply going to escort the young man out to his bus?
"I... I can find my way to the bus, it's all right."
"You're not going to your bus," said the man, leading Sanza down the hall, turning right and continuing to walk until he reached a door marked 'Employees Only'. He pushed through the door, escorting Sanza into another long hallway, where he could begin to hear the sounds of keyboards rapidly being operated in the background. This was one of the areas in which employees worked on the company's numerous top-secret projects, and Sanza quickly realized that he was exactly where he wanted to be... but under very bad circumstances. "We have reason to believe you might attempt to steal this company's property, and we're going to hold you until the police arrive."
Sanza's eyes widened, but he didn't attempt to pull out of the man's grip... he simply allowed himself to be escorted until the man reached a room marked 'Secured Area C', taking out a keycard and swiping it in a slot built into the door just above its handle. The door opened, and the man pulled Sanza inside. The room he'd taken Sanza into was a bright, windowless space measuring twenty feet on each side. A single, metallic chair sat at the back of the room, and the man placed Sanza in the chair, before reaching down to his waist and taking out a pair of handcuffs.
"Place both hands behind the chair," said the man. A lump appeared in Sanza's throat, and he narrowed his eyes, giving the man a quizzical expression.
"I can't go anywhere, you know," said Sanza, indicating the door. "That thing locks, right? So there's no way I can escape anyway. I mean-"
The man went around behind the chair and grabbed Sanza's wrists, pulling them around the two metallic bars behind the chair. The man's grip was far too strong for Sanza to free himself from, and within seconds, he found his hands cuffed tightly behind the chair, keeping him locked helplessly in place. As Sanza began to grimace and struggle, the man turned and exited the room, locking the door behind him without saying a word.
Something had to be up... but it wasn't until the man left the room that Sanza realized that he was in far more danger than he'd previously thought. The man somehow knew that Sanza was Red X... or if he didn't, someone had tipped him off that Sanza was a threat. Either way, with his hands cuffed behind him, there was no way for Sanza to reach the X gloves that were trapped in his pockets, which meant that the suit's gadgets were worthless, even if he did have the suit on. No gloves meant no focus... and no way for Sanza to free himself.
"Shit..." thought Sanza, leaning his back against the metallic frame of the chair. He was trembling slightly, and it wasn't because the chair was cold. He was scared... and he could feel the hairs start to stand up on the back of his neck. "How am I supposed to get myself out of this one?"
O-O-O
The dangerous villain Kardiak had been making a mess of downtown Jump City, using its tentacle-like valves to smash cars, knock down fruit stands, and rip windows to shreds, scattering debris all over the street and creating a very messy situation for the Teen Titans. Fortunately, it was the time of day when very few children were out on the streets, and so the main threat from Kardiak, that it would suck children into its large, heart-shaped body, was mostly nonexistent.
Still, the Titans certainly had their hands full making sure the monstrous villain wouldn't be endangering any of the adults out on the streets, making their way back and forth from their various places of employment.
"He's putting up a lot of fight for a giant mechanical heart monster, isn't he?" quipped Terra, directing her question toward Beast Boy.
"Kardiak never seems to learn his lesson," said Beast Boy, just before transforming into a large green tiger and latching onto one of Kardiak's valves, attempting to rip the metallic appendage from its body. "Grrrrrrrr!"
Kardiak wildly swung the valve that Beast Boy had attached himself to, while also attempting to defend itself from the Titans' other numerous attacks. Starfire and Cyborg were hitting Kardiak with a constant bombardment of energy blasts, while Robin had wrapped his Batcables around the beast's body and was attempting to bring it down with one mighty tug.
"Robin, behind you!" shouted Starfire. As she attempted to warn Robin that one of Kardiak's valves was behind him, attempting to suck him up, she herself was sucked up into one of the valves, appearing trapped within its red, pulsating body just a few seconds later. "HELP!"
"Starfire!" shouted Robin, rolling out of the way of the valve trying to suck him in, before tossing several Bird-a-rangs at the area connecting Kardiak's valve to the rest of its body. The valve was quickly severed, falling to the ground... though it still had several more, and was quite willing to use them.
While Robin was frantically trying to get Starfire out from the outside, she began to fire Starbolts at the inside of her prison, with little luck, as the energy blasts were simply too weak to damage Kardiak's tough exterior.
"Starfire, you gotta try to stay calm!" advised Cyborg, using his scanner to get a readout of Kardiak's structure, while at the same time rolling out of the way as two of its large valves came crashing down on either side of him, both ripping out a decent-sized chunk of concrete from the ground as they impacted. "If you destroy Kardiak while you're inside, you run the risk of seriously injuring yourself!"
After some effort, Kardiak managed to toss Beast Boy off of its valve, and Raven held back against the beast, knowing what happened the last time she went overboard in attempting to destroy it. She'd nearly harmed the child trapped inside, and she did not want a repeat of that incident, especially since Kardiak's prisoner this time around was one of her best friends.
"Raven, are you okay?" asked Terra, repeatedly battering the base of Kardiak's frame with small rocks, in an attempt to break the bottom apart so that Starfire could escape. "Your attacks, they're not as powerful as-"
"You worry about your attacks, I'll worry about mine," replied Raven, closing her eyes and levitating herself into the air. "Azarath, metreon-"
Her concentration and focus were broken by one of Kardiak's valves, slamming into her chest in a hard whiplash motion that sent the gray-skinned Titan flying all the way back into a nearby building, where she impacted the wall hard and was nearly knocked unconscious by the force of the blow. Terra gasped, then turned to face Kardiak, a new plan rapidly forming in her mind.
"Starfire, get to the side of the cage, now!" shouted Terra. Starfire was a bit taken aback, but quickly complied, pressing her body against the inside of Kardiak as much as she could. Terra closed her eyes and began to focus, and suddenly, a large spike of earth pierced the bottom of Kardiak's frame, causing it to let out a loud, gurgled cry of anguish and stop in its tracks, its valves slumping to the ground. Starfire's body was just inches from the spike, and she let out a surprised scream, still shaking as the earthen impaling device slowly withdrew from inside Kardiak's body. "Now climb out through the hole!"
Starfire complied, slipping out of Kardiak and rolling away just as the beast repaired itself, resealing the prison, but with Starfire already on the outside. She quickly made it to her feet and ran over to Terra, offering a quick 'thank you' out of gratitude for having been freed.
"Don't mention it," said Terra, crouching down into a fighting position alongside Starfire. "Now let's put this thing away for good!"
O-O-O
Sanza strained against the cuffs for several minutes, only sustaining bruises for his efforts in the sad realization that there was no way that he'd be able to escape. Now his mind dwelled on exactly what these people were going to do to him... would they really call the cops, as they had said? Or did they have something far more sinister in mind? These people didn't play around... Sanza knew that he was probably much more valuable dead than he could ever be alive.
"You have to think, Sanza... you've been in fixes like this before... not without use of the suit, but..." Sanza shifted uncomfortably, his breathing starting to pick up. Sweat was already running down his forehead, and the lump in his throat continued to grow. How did these people find out who he was? Did one of the Titans sell him out? It couldn't be that, they were just as interested in protecting the city as he was.
Maybe it was Slade... maybe these people were working with him, that had to be the reason they'd taken him. Slade was the only person he knew besides the Titans or Father Abeula who had his identity. Then again, there was always Mumbo... though from what he'd seen of him, Mumbo was far too incompetent to be working with corporate powerbrokers. It was Slade... it had to be Slade, unless there was some way that these men could actually figure out who he was without ever having seen him without his suit.
"Then again, that metal detector we all had to go through might've pegged me as Red X..." thought Sanza. It wouldn't have tripped, of course, because Xynothium was designed to be undetectable... but maybe the people running this place had some other way of seeing through Sanza's clothes and catching the suit. "Maybe it's not Slade... but maybe it is... either way, I'm in serious trouble if I don't get out of here..."
The door to the room opened, and Sanza let out a slight gasp, instinctively sliding back into his chair. Here they are... the people who are coming to take me away... or to kill me... or...
"Sanza?" whispered a voice that he never expected to hear, a voice that was immediately accompanied by a face that Sanza never expected to see. It was Cleo, quietly entering the room, holding a keycard in her hand... that he wondered just how in the hell she had managed to get. "Are you all right?"
"Do I look all right?" replied Sanza, though a smile was rapidly forming on his face. Cleo was right, surprises did tend to be more pleasant... but he still had to know how she'd actually managed to find him, not to mention how she'd actually gotten into this room. "Cleo... how in the world-"
"The teacher sent me back to make sure you were getting on the bus..." said Cleo, walking behind Sanza's chair and inspecting the cuffs around his wrists. She knelt down, and began running her fingers along the chain connecting the cuffs. "When I came back, I saw you with that guy... I hid around the corner and watched him take you away... then waited outside that 'Employees Only' door until that guy came back. I grabbed the keycard out of his back pocket and came in to find you... I checked like three other doors before reaching this one, I can't believe I was actually able to find you without getting caught..."
Sanza continued to be worried, even though his savior was right behind him. If both of them were caught, then they would be in serious danger...
"Cleo, what are you doing?" asked Sanza in an anxious tone. "Those cuffs, they-"
"Trust me, I've babysat and been tied up by little brats enough times to know a few escape tricks," replied Cleo.
"These aren't those toy cuffs you buy at the grocery store, these are like the ones the cops use!" whispered Sanza, letting out an exasperated sigh.
"I know," she replied, slowly walking around to the front of the chair and looking up into Sanza's eyes, a calm smile on her face. "Police officers take night shifts all the time, so I end up watching their kids quite often, and guess what they use when they want to incapacitate the babysitter so that they can dig freely out of the cookie jar? They use their parent's cuffs. Trust me, I know how to get out of them. All you have to do, is..."
Sanza carefully listened to Cleo's instructions, then slowly began to follow them, taking about half a minute before he was finally able to work his hands free of the cuffs, though he'd lost a bit of skin on his upper wrists. His hands free, he stood up and hugged Cleo tightly, grateful to her for having helped him escape.
"Sanza, what did these guys want with you?" Cleo whispered as Sanza parted from her and began rubbing his wrists. "You didn't try to steal anything from them, did you?"
Sanza shook his head, quickly thinking up a lie to keep himself from having to reveal his identity as Red X to Cleo. He certainly didn't need to be explaining anything else, especially when he knew that he and his girlfriend needed to quickly get out of the building to avoid being in danger.
"They just caught me walking around without ID... I was going by a restricted area and one of their guards grabbed me... it's the teacher's fault for letting me go to the bus by myself without an escort."
"Yeah, that is pretty retarded," said Cleo, walking with Sanza out into the hallway and quickly leaving the restricted area of the building. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone walking around who could see either of them before they made it out of the 'Employees Only' area and into the halls leading toward the entrance of the facility. "Especially a business like this... look, you should probably get back to the bus... and I think I'm gonna come with you."
Sanza stopped in the middle of the hallway, a quizzical look on his face as he turned back toward Cleo.
"Well, it's lonely and boring on that bus, and if I go back to the group, I'll be equally bored of this stupid tour, so... yeah, I'll just come back and talk to you until everybody else comes back."
"Cleo, what if you get in trouble, too? I mean, weren't you just thanking me earlier for keeping you out of trouble, and then... besides, we're seeing each other tonight anyway."
Cleo let out a sigh, rolling her eyes and starting to turn back. Sanza quickly reached out to stop her, his hand latching onto her shoulder.
"Then again... I guess... okay, sure," said Sanza, hoping that a conversation with Cleo on the bus might get his mind off of everything that had happened... and what had almost happened to him if Cleo hadn't come to set him free. "And... thanks for helping me out."
"I totally owed you," replied Cleo, leaning over and giving Sanza a quick peck on the lips as the two of them made their way out into the lobby and toward the entrance of the building. The guards at the entrance of the building let them go past without saying a word.
They'd been given new orders... and for now, Sanza was going to be allowed his freedom. Someone was watching Sanza and Cleo exit the building together... and made a note of the way that the two were holding hands and laughing as they left.
O-O-O
"We mopped the floor with Kardiak today!" Beast Boy, always the most easily excitable of the Titans, was once again proclaiming their dominance as the six teammates celebrated their victory over lunch at a nearby fast-food restaurant. Since Raven had used her powers to repair the building's windows, the meal was free, and the Titans took full advantage, as their table was almost completely covered with trays of food.
"Remember, team, our work isn't done yet... we're still going to investigate the situation with the group of men that Red X described to us," said Robin, holding a triple cheeseburger in his right hand. The other Titans nodded in agreement, and Starfire, after sipping from a milkshake, began to speak.
"I am sure that we will be able to find them before they carry out their plans... I just wish that Red X would be able to assist us..." said Starfire, a hint of regret in her voice.
"Well, you know X," said Cyborg, before offering up his best imitation of Red X's casual, 'I'm too bad to be good' manner of speaking. "I don't play the hero... I'd rather steal stuff and piss off Robin. Starfire, you're looking reeeeeeeeeal nice today."
Beast Boy laughed hard enough to shoot a stream of cola from his nose, while Terra simply giggled, still by far the least familiar with the mysterious thief known as Red X. She'd only known him for a single day, and their sole conversation had been... 'interesting', to say the least. It was him who'd broken the news that she had been intended for use as a weapon, and he hadn't even been addressing her directly when he said it.
"Red X told me that Slade had tried to make him his apprentice... is that true?" asked Terra, receiving a quick nod from Robin.
"That's right... that was the only time when we actually fought together with him," replied Robin. "X realized that his life and his family were in danger, so he came to us for help. We just about defeated Slade, but..."
Robin was reluctant to continue, knowing that X's situation and Terra's contained so many parallels that it might stir up bad memories within the girl again. She could tell that he was hesitating, and stared at him for several seconds, waiting for him to finish. It was then that Beast Boy broke the silence with a loud, piercing scream.
"I ordered a tofu burger, but this is real meat!" shouted Beast Boy, pointing at the hamburger on his tray in disgust, then opening his mouth and pointing to his tongue. "I just ate a real animal! A real dead animal!"
"Oh no, better lower the flags to half-mast, Beast Boy ate a dead animal," said Raven, sighing and shaking her head. "Honestly, I'm sure the cow doesn't mind. Want me to see if I can contact him from beyond the grave?"
Terra watched Beast Boy and Raven's latest argument, and began to forget about her current train of thought, revolving around Red X and his history with Slade. It was obvious that the other Titans didn't want to talk to her about it... so maybe, thought Terra, she would just have to ask the thief himself... whenever she saw him next, that is.
O-O-O
Neither Sanza nor Cleo's idea of a date involved searching through the aisles of Super Bargain-Mart for a suitable birthday present for a twelve-year-old girl, but it wasn't until the two were in the car, headed for dinner that Sanza realized he'd forgotten to do something very important. Fortunately, Cleo didn't mind... any time with Sanza was, to her, time worth spending, and it certainly was comical watching her boyfriend search through the toy aisles, bumping into small children with nearly every step he took.
"See, I don't even know what mom already got her, so I'm completely at a loss for ideas," said Sanza, picking up a box that contained a Teen Titans action figure playset. "I mean, I know she loves the Teen Titans, but... these toys really don't depict them accurately at all. I wonder if they ever come around here looking at these things, because their good names are really being ruined by all this crappy merchandise."
"When I was twelve, I got a bunch of clothes, a couple of CDs, and a playhouse for my cat... who died six months later after a car hit him," said Cleo, briefly sad as she recalled the memory of her dead kitten. "Do you know what kind of music Maddy likes?"
"Trust me, she's got every CD she could possibly want already," replied Sanza. "I hear them through the walls sometimes... even if she did need new CDs, I wouldn't buy them for her."
Cleo giggled, knowing exactly what Sanza meant... her parents frequently complained about her own loud music numerous times over the years.
"Does she like books? Maybe we could get her a nice book... as much as I hate them, maybe there's a book here that she would like."
Maddy did enjoy reading, but usually checked out the books that she wanted from either the school library or the public library. Very rarely did she actually go out and buy the books on her own... she saved whatever money that she had for music. Still, Sanza could think of one book in particular that Maddy might enjoy... and he gestured for Cleo to follow him as he began walking toward the store's book section. He passed several rows of appliances and the store's pharmacy before finally making it to a long rack of books and magazines.
"She loves looking at pictures of things... she doesn't want to be a photographer, or anything like that, but she'll read things like the National Geographic, just to look at some of the pretty pictures they have inside," said Sanza, searching among the rows of books until he found exactly the one he wanted, a large, hardcover book with a fold-in cover, titled 'Mexico City: A Pictorial Compendium'. "This book... she saw this in here a few weeks ago and wanted to stop to look at it, but mom was in a hurry, so she couldn't."
He picked up the book and began flipping through the pages... several hundred pages of pictures lay within, including beautiful views of the mountains surrounding the city, an entire chapter on the city's ancient Aztec monuments, and pages that depicted the insides and outsides of some of the city's most beautiful buildings.
"She's got a mural of Mexico City up on her wall... we visited the city once a few years back, and Maddy just loved it there..."
"It's a beautiful book," said Cleo, pointing at one of the pictures that depicted several destroyed buildings in a residential area of the city. "That's not so beautiful, though..."
"There was an earthquake there a few years before you and I were born," said Sanza, flipping to the end of the book so that he could see the price marked on the inside cover. "Oh... oh shit, it's thirty-four ninety-five. Mom gave me twenty bucks."
"Well, actually, it's twenty-seven forty-seven," said Cleo, pointing to a sticker on the back cover of the book, with 'Bargain-Mart: Saving You Lots Of Money' printed just above the reduced price.
"That's still more than twenty bucks, though," replied Sanza, moving to place the book back on the shelf. "I guess I'll get Maddy a CD... and have to listen to it every day through my wall for the next month."
Before Sanza could put the book back, however, Cleo stopped him... displaying a ten-dollar-bill in her left hand.
"I've got it covered," said Cleo, handing Sanza the money and helping him pull the book back down from the shelf. Sanza instinctively shook his head, but Cleo gave a warm smile and placed her hand on his. "It's for your sister, right? You love your sister, so in my opinion, it's for you. And tell her I said happy birthday."
With every passing moment, it seemed like Cleo was getting nicer and nicer... and Sanza was growing more and more fond of her. He didn't even think that Starfire would've done what Cleo just did, giving him ten of her hard-earned dollars to help him buy a birthday present for his sister.
"Maybe I was wrong about Starfire..." thought Sanza, walking up to the checkout area with Cleo to purchase the book. "Maybe Cleo's the one I should be going after... I mean, I already have her, and... and she's just as wonderful, and as kind, and as beautiful as Starfire... so maybe... maybe she is the one for me."
O-O-O
That night's date only served to confirm Sanza's thoughts about Cleo even more. After dinner, the two had gone to see a movie, which both had ended up enjoying very much. After spending some time just sitting in the car and talking, the two finally decided to go back home for the night... with Cleo pulling up in Sanza's driveway just before midnight. The lights in the second and third floors of the apartment were off, Maria and Maddy were most likely asleep.
"Sanza... I had such a wonderful evening with you tonight," said Cleo, leaning in close to Sanza and placing her hands on his. "Don't tell your mom I helped pay for the gift..."
"I... I kinda have to, she gave me the twenty bucks and if I show her a receipt for something that costs more, she'll wonder where I got the money from..."
Cleo giggled slightly, nodding her head to indicate that Sanza could indeed tell his mother about her paying for the balance on the gift.
"Well... I guess this is goodnight then..." said Cleo, her eyes looking right into Sanza's. Sanza knew exactly what she wanted... and it was the exact same thing that he wanted, which his hand slowly wrapping around Cleo's back made perfectly clear.
"Yeah... this is... goodnight..."
In an instant, the two were tightly embracing, their hands around each other's backs, their lips pressed tightly together, their mouths wide open. Sanza and Cleo's relationship, which had started several years ago as friends, was now culminating in this, a furious display of passion. Sanza was in love with Cleo, madly in love with her, and neither of them could let their pent-up emotions wait even one more second.
It was Cleo who began removing Sanza's shirt first, though Sanza followed just a second after. In the heat of the moment, it took both of them more than ten seconds to get each other's shirts off, and once they'd accomplished that, they continued their makeout session for half a minute more, both of them now breathing heavily, with sweat starting to run down their faces.
"Sanza..." gasped Cleo, letting out a quiet moan as Sanza slowly began unbuttoning her jeans, both of them nearly completely engulfed in their own physical impulses. "Wait... wait a second..."
Sanza slowly and reluctantly leaned back, his hands stopping just short of the zipper of Cleo's jeans. She put her hand to her forehead for a couple of seconds, her eyes staring off into space as if she was trying to think of something.
"Damn... too fast..." thought Sanza, wiping the sweat from his forehead and mentally berating himself for trying to put the moves on Cleo so quickly. "Unless..."
"Shit..." she whispered, shaking her head and looking up at the ceiling of the car. "I'm such a fucking idiot..."
"Cleo?" Sanza said quizzically, slowly reaching over toward the driver's side of the car.
"I knew we were gonna be doing this... I didn't bring any protection... fuck!"
Of course, Sanza had no idea that the two of them would be having sex in Cleo's car... and he probably wouldn't have even wanted to do the deed if he hadn't realized his feelings about her during their date. He hadn't brought protection either, and let out a sigh, leaning against his door with his hand on his forehead.
"I'm sorry, Sanza... I mean, I wouldn't... yanno, I wouldn't mind either way, but... if I got pregnant, I mean... you're Catholic, and... and there's no way I'd... I mean, I wouldn't want to get an abortion out of respect for you, so, I mean..."
"No, no, it's fine... that's okay, Cleo, I should've brought a condom or two, but-"
"Rain check?" said Cleo, leaning over and placing her hand on Sanza's wrist, giving him a smile. Sanza nodded, before slowly starting to put his shirt back on, a visible disappointment in his gestures. "I... I mean, next time we go out..."
"Sure, yeah..." said Sanza, watching as Cleo re-buttoned her jeans and put her t-shirt back on. He couldn't believe he'd actually come that close... and with a girl that he genuinely, truly, deeply cared about... of course, there's no way his mom would approve, but that didn't matter... there were a lot of things he did that she probably wouldn't approve of.
Being Red X, for example.
"Well, I really did have a wonderful night, even though we didn't... I'll definitely bring it next time, I swear," said Cleo, a smile on her face. She leaned over and kissed Sanza one more time, then blew him another kiss as he opened the door. "Goodnight, Sanza... I love you."
"I love you too, Cleo..."
Sanza slowly climbed out of the car, walking toward the fire escape and climbing up the stairs to his room. Cleo watched him the entire time he climbed up to his room, waiting until he disappeared from view before moving her hand up toward the ignition. She leaned over and closed the passenger-side door, which Sanza hadn't done after he'd exited the car, then leaned back into her seat, a sigh escaping her lips.
"He's the sweetest boy I've ever known... I know we're going to have a wonderful family someday..."
At that instant, a gloved hand clasped over Cleo's mouth from behind. She let out a scream, only to find a knife placed firmly against her throat.
"If you want to live, you're going to do everything that I say..." came a deep, gravely voice from behind Cleo's seat. She let out several more involuntary screams, all of which were muffled by the hand over her lips. She was terrified, and it took nearly ten seconds for her to calm herself down enough to nod. "You're going to go for a little drive, exactly where I tell you to go. If you deviate from my instructions in any way, I will kill you."
Two men in ski masks had crawled into the car while Cleo was watching Sanza enter his room... while one of them kept his knife to her throat and his hand over her mouth, the other crawled up into the seat beside Cleo, producing two plastic zipties.
"Keep your hands on the steering wheel," said the man seated next to Cleo. She did as she was told... the sharp blade being pressed into her jugular gave her no other choice. He secured the zipties around Cleo's wrists and the top of the steering wheel, tightening them so that, while Cleo could still drive, she couldn't move her hands from the wheel, not even an inch. He then took out a roll of clear, wide tape, ripping off a long strip and stretching it out. "When his hand comes off of your mouth, keep your mouth closed... scream and you die."
Cleo was trembling, tears starting to form in her eyes. Who were these men? Were they robbers? Rapists? Murderers? As the man behind Cleo slipped his hand away from her mouth, she was too stunned to even try to scream... and when the tape was pressed over her lips, she was no longer able to.
"Now do exactly as I say," said the man behind Cleo, still holding the knife to her throat as the other man turned the car's ignition and climbed into the back seat next to his partner. "Back out of the driveway slowly. If, at any point during this trip we're going to make, I hear police sirens... I will cut your throat."
Still holding the knife to Cleo's throat with one hand, the man reached over and pulled the car's gearshift into reverse. The man sitting next to him began to make a phone call.
"We followed your instructions exactly, sir... we have the girl. We're bringing her to the production facility now."
O-O-O
Sedaris stood on the roof of the Mycoso Building, leaning against the building's tall, metallic spire and using his right hand to hold a cellular phone up to his face.
"That's excellent news," said Sedaris, his lips curved into a smile. "Now I can sleep easily... I have a message to deliver tomorrow."
O-O-O
Another exciting chapter in the books! Poor Cleo, and poor Sanza, whose home-run ended up being a mere ground-rule double. But if things keep going the way they are, then Sanza, mighty Sanza, could strike out... see you next inning! Er, next chapter!