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
Four rows back from the front of the cathedral, Sanza slumped his back into the cold, wooden pew and halfheartedly listened as Father Abuela read a passage from the Book of Luke. It was a chapter Sanza had heard during Mass many times before, and he fought to stay awake as the priest's reading dragged on and on.
The morning had been like any other typical Sunday morning... neither Maria nor Maddy had said anything about Red X since Sanza had woken up. He expected his mother to lecture him all through breakfast, or at least all through the car ride to church, but he got no such admonishment from her, and for that Sanza was somewhat grateful, especially since he still didn't know whether or not he wanted to continue being Red X. It was a choice, Maria had told him, that was best left up to Sanza... and to God.
"Whatever God's saying right now, I'm not picking up any of it," thought Sanza, his eyes rapidly blinking for several seconds as Father Abuela finished the reading and closed his Bible. When he began giving a dialogue about St. Peter, Sanza felt even more of an urge to sleep, but he knew that his mother, seated right next to him on his left, wouldn't approve. He continued listening to the priest, who spoke in his normal, calm tone of voice, his words transmitting a great warmness to all who had gathered for Sunday Mass.
"And when St. Peter, whom had once denied Christ three times but had taken charge of leading the Church after Christ's ascension was confronted with his own crucifixion, he asked to be crucified upside down, for he felt that he was not worthy to be crucified as the Son of God was. And so, despite the agonizing pain of being crucified in such a position, St. Peter endured and was soon brought up to Heaven to be with his Lord. And we remember his great works and his sacrifices today. And-"
"And Cleo smacked me right across the face and ran off," thought Sanza, his hands quivering in his lap. "St. Peter endured for Jesus, but no one would ever be willing to endure for me..."
And why would they have any reason to? Red X was a thief, a criminal... despite all the heroic things he'd done, he knew he wasn't worthy of anyone's respect... the only one who universally supported him as Red X was Maddy, and she would likely support him in anything, as kind as she was.
"As long as I'm Red X, I'm going to be endangering the people I care about... but maybe I've endangered them already... I'm not helping anyone by stopping now."
Sanza knew what his mother wanted, and he knew what Maddy wanted... but what did he want? What did God want? Sanza had no way of being sure... nothing that Father Abuela said in Mass could possibly help him... but there might be another way to get an answer from that source.
O-O-O
"You finally told your mother and sister about Red X... my child, I know that this week has been very eventful for you, and that you are in great conflict about what you believe God wants you to do."
Through the rite of Confessional, Father Abuela had known about Sanza's secret for many months... every time Sanza had confessed the sins that he had committed as Red X, he had been told to give up his life as a thief... but this week was different. Sanza had confessed everything about the past seven days, both the good things and bad things he had done, and what the consequences of those actions had been.
"On one hand, I know that many of the things I'm doing... stealing, fighting people... it's sinful, and I know God doesn't want me to have anything to do with that... but on the other hand, some of these people... they hurt Cleo, they hurt her terribly, and-"
"And you are angry," said Father Abuela, his face concealed by the wall of the confessional booth.
"That... that's right," Sanza replied.
"Anger is a sin," said Father Abuela, "because it can lead us to cause pain to others, both physically and emotionally."
"I... I understand... sometimes it seems like God's angry all the time, why does he get to-"
"God's anger is righteous and just," replied Father Abuela. "His anger stems from the sins that mankind commits, both against Him and against others... but God's actions are always just, while the actions committed in anger by mankind are often excessive and reckless."
Sanza had expected a response like that from Father Abuela... and he began to feel a hint of shame for having briefly compared himself to God. When he was fighting criminals as Red X, he was judging their actions... he was exacting punishments that at times could be excessive, and in the case of people like Lonnie Jarvin, certainly reckless. By playing the hero, Sanza was playing God... but if that was true, than the Teen Titans were equally guilty... weren't they?
"...if I decided... to help people, as Red X... instead of hurting them, then... would I be sinning, or playing God? I mean, if I decided to do more than just protecting my family, would I be-"
"Do you mean like the Teen Titans do?" replied Father Abuela. "The Teen Titans are selfless... they fight for the people of this city without once thinking of personal gain, or of any other motivation besides protecting innocent lives. Certainly, Sanza, if you decided to help people rather than to steal, it would bring you much closer to God's grace... but not if you were helping them because you were seeking recognition, or wealth, or power... or even revenge."
It was as if Father Abuela was reading Sanza's mind. Hearing Sanza talk about Cleo, and then suddenly talk about becoming a hero like the Teen Titans were... it was clear to the priest that Sanza wanted to hunt down the rest of the people responsible for what had happened to her. But if Sanza went after those people with malice in his heart, he would be going down a dangerous road... a road that Sanza may never be able to come back from.
Sanza didn't reply to the priest's words... he leaned back in the confessional booth and began thinking about what Father Abuela had said... he looked up at the ceiling of the booth and briefly whispered a prayer.
"Dear Heavenly Father... I know not what I should do... or what I must do... so help me decide what I'm going to do, and please, help me quickly... and give me the strength that I will need to carry out your wishes. Amen."
"Sanza... are there any other sins you wish to confess?"
"There are none, Father."
"Then go in God's grace, and may the spirit of the Lord be with you. Amen."
"Amen."
O-O-O
In the main room of Titans Tower, a late-morning meeting was taking place, with all six Titans focusing on who the remaining two men whom Red X had described to them the previous day could be. Six men in the board room... four of them dead... if the plans of the last two had anything to do with the destruction of Jump City, it would be up to the Titans to figure out those plans and stop the men by any means necessary.
"I've gotten reports of multiple witnesses seeing a big man in a dust-covered suit walking out of the parking lot of the shopping center where that Chuck E. Cheese got hit," said Cyborg, pressing several keys on the room's control console and pulling up a profile on the big screen. "All descriptions point to this guy... Alex Sedaris, an employee of Baddalax Security, currently employed as a private bodyguard in the corporate sector."
"Baddalax... that's where Red X was a few days ago, wasn't it?" said Robin, his mind quickly thinking about the building and exactly what the Titans had seen there. "...where we fought Red X a few days ago."
"But he's just a bodyguard, right?" asked Terra, staring up at the screen. "I mean... I don't think a bodyguard would be in a room with a bunch of business guys..."
"Unless that bodyguard was working directly for one of them..." said Raven, her hand briefly going to her chin.
"Cyborg, pull up records of anyone who may have hired Sedaris in the past few months," said Robin. Cyborg nodded and began typing on the control console again... getting an error message almost as soon as he'd triggered the search. "Try again."
"Same error message keeps coming up," replied Cyborg, repeating the search several times, before the entire screen turned bright blue and displayed a 'fatal exception' error. "Oh shit, blue screen of death!"
The screen flashed off, and an annoyed Cyborg slammed his fist hard into the control console, shaking his head sadly.
"Dude, what did you do!" shrieked Beast Boy, waving his arms in the air. "The whole computer crashed!"
"I didn't do nothin' except try to run that search again," replied Cyborg, getting up from the control console and turning toward the hallway. "I gotta go restart the computer... it's been seven months since that's happened, I can't believe this... lousy computer..."
As Cyborg left, a calm Starfire, perhaps more computer-literate than any of the Titans save for Raven, stared at the blank screen for several seconds before offering up her own theory.
"Perhaps... someone does not want us finding out who the employer of Sedaris is..." said Starfire, "and they set up some sort of... computer protection in order to keep us from finding their identity..."
The computer flashed on and quickly fired up, but by the time Cyborg had returned to the room, Starfire's theory was already holding water with the team... and Robin decided not to ask Cyborg to run another search. Instead, he would be running a search of his own... without a computer.
"I'm going to do a little investigating on my own," said Robin, getting up from the couch and walking toward the elevator. "The rest of you can keep searching for leads... I'm pretty sure that Sedaris was one of the six men in the room, but we have to find out exactly who that other guy is... it could be any one of the executives working in the Mycoso Building, and once we determine who that person is, we'll be able to stop them from trying anything else."
After Robin left, the rest of the Titans went their separate ways as well... Starfire and Raven each retired to their rooms, while Cyborg stayed in the main room to run a diagnostic on the Titans' computer. As for Beast Boy and Terra, they went off into a hallway leading out of the Tower's main room... after all the events of the past week, they both had a lot on their minds.
"Terra... I know it's only been a few days since you came back, but..."
"You don't have to say anything, Beast Boy..." said Terra, smiling and gently reaching over to take his hand. "I've decided to stay with the team... if all of you will have me, that is."
Beast Boy's response to Terra's declaration was one of happiness... and a bit of surprise, as Terra could tell from the excitement of his voice.
"That... that's great, Terra! It's because you helped us save the city yesterday, right?"
"That's right, Beast Boy... I... I don't really have any more issues with controlling my powers, and I know that all of you at least trust me enough to let me live here... I mean, even Raven is more concerned about you than she is about me."
"...huh?" said Beast Boy, a puzzled look on his face. He stopped walking and looked over at Terra, and she stopped as well, her hand's grip briefly loosening on his. "What do you...?"
"I mean, she... she was worried that I might... that I might hurt you again, Beast Boy... and she didn't want to see you like that again... I could tell that she really cares about you."
Beast Boy nodded, remembering how depressed he'd been in the days immediately following Terra's betrayal... and after she'd been turned into stone, it took him nearly two weeks for him to return to his jovial, humorous self. All of the Titans had been concerned with Beast Boy's behavior during this time, but Raven, seemingly the one most annoyed with his 'normal' self, the one who hated his jokes and constantly dealt out sarcastic insults at his expense was particularly sympathetic toward Beast Boy during his time of melancholy. She'd even once tried making a joke of her own to cheer him up... of course, she stumbled on the delivery and completely botched the joke... which to Beast Boy was hilarious, and had been one of the first things to bring him out of the funk that he'd been in.
"Raven can be... well, moody, but when she's happy... which is, well, about an hour a month, she's actually really nice... and I love seeing her smile."
"Is that why you try to make her laugh all the time?" said Terra, raising one of her eyebrows.
"Yeah, I guess it is..." replied Beast Boy, chuckling to himself. Terra smiled and took Beast Boy's hand again, walking down the hallway until the two reached a split, one path leading to the left, and the other leading straight ahead, toward an upstairs elevator. It was at this split that Terra stopped and turned to the left, causing Beast Boy to reach over and take her shoulder.
"It's all right, Beast Boy... I'll catch up in a bit, I just wanted to see something... if that's all right with you, anyway."
"Yeah, of course, Terra... you know where I'll be, I'll uh... I'll try to clear a path for you before you come in," said Beast Boy, obviously referring to his messy room. Terra giggled again and kissed Beast Boy on the cheek, before walking down the hallway and passing several closed rooms. Once she saw that Beast Boy had disappeared from view, she stopped and sat down against the wall, leaning her back firmly against it and gazing up at the ceiling. The smile had disappeared from her face, and a look of sadness appeared in her eyes... which then started to tear up.
"I... I screwed up," thought Terra, reaching up to wipe the tears from her face. Her mind drifted back and forth... back to the moment aboard the Ferris wheel when she'd realized that she loved Beast Boy... at the very same time that she'd been working as a double agent for Slade, and that it was too late to let Beast Boy know of her duplicity. She'd hurt him, as well as all of her other friends, and for that, she knew she could never forgive herself. Even if they forgave her, even if they all came to trust her completely, she would never forgive herself for hurting Beast Boy the way that she did. "God... how can he even LOOK at me after everything I did?"
So she'd helped the Titans save the city... so what? She'd done that before, and then she'd turned around and betrayed them. As much as she could redeem herself in the Titans' eyes, she still found that she was unable to redeem herself in her own... and she didn't know when she could ever do that... or if.
Slowly, Terra stood up and brushed away the rest of the tears from her eyes. She knew that she and the other Titans still had a job to do... and she decided that the least she could do was to help them get that job done. Instead of making her way to Beast Boy's room, Terra headed back to the main room, where Cyborg was still running a diagnostic on the computer.
"Hey... need any help?" asked Terra, putting on her eager, happy expression as she walked toward Cyborg's control console. He shook his head, staring at the readout display on his arm to make sure no files on the Titans' computer had been corrupted by the crash. "O...kay then, I'll just, uh... sit on the couch and watch, I guess."
Terra slowly walked over and sat down on the couch, her arms resting against the top while her eyes became fixated on the ceiling, her brain entering into a state of deep thought.
"I need to get over this somehow... I need to know that I've truly been forgiven..."
O-O-O
Robin's T-Cycle jettisoned through the streets of Jump City, the midday sun reflecting brightly off its polished red surface. He knew he had one excellent lead, and he was going to follow up on it as well as he could... which meant that he would be returning to the Baddalax Security headquarters, to the office that had once been a battleground for he and his fellow Titans.
"I know for a fact that the man X captured was hiding something... not only was he hiding information about Barrington, but I bet he's got info on Sedaris, too. Once I find out exactly who Sedaris is working for, I'll be able to bring him and his employer down once and for all."
Instead of going through the front, which Robin knew that the building's stiff security wouldn't allow him to do, he wheeled the T-Cycle behind the building, from where X had made his escape and from where the Titans had given chase. A portion of the windows in the back of the building were still boarded up from when X had gone through them, and this was the area that Robin knew he was aiming for as he spun his T-Cycle around on the street to face the back of the building. He drove up onto the sidewalk by the fence surrounding the building and pointed his Birdcable at a small metallic pipe mounted on the roof just above the boarded window.
"Time to make my entrance," thought Robin, his eyes narrowing.
O-O-O
With all of his windows taped up and boarded, Derek Voscoti had to work in the artificial light afforded to him by the florescent bulbs mounted in the ceiling of the room. Ever since Red X had attacked him several days ago, he'd been looking over his shoulder every second, nervous that the thief may choose to strike at him again. All of the calls that he'd placed to Sedaris hadn't been returned, and it was quite clear that his all-time greatest employee had found new loyalty, leaving Voscoti in the dust.
"This is the thanks I get for protecting your sorry ass?" thought Voscoti, shuffling through several papers on his desk. His hand moved to his computer mouse, and he began clicking on various e-mails from prospective clients who wanted to request the services of his bodyguards. "Sure, I sold Barrington down the river, but I never told the damn thief about you or Dullahan! See if I send you a Christmas card..."
The wooden boards behind the security executive shattered, showering him with splinters and causing him to let out a loud scream, placing his head on his desk and covering it up with his arms. When he looked up, he could see the Boy Wonder standing on his desk, staring straight down at him. He wheeled back several feet in his chair, nearly falling out the now wide-open window.
"OH MY GOD!" shouted Voscoti, trembling in his chair as Robin leapt down in front of him. "What the hell do you want?"
"You know exactly what I want," replied Robin, reaching over and grabbing Voscoti by his collar. "I want a name... the name of Alex Sedaris' client. Sedaris works for YOUR security company, you know exactly who hired him, and you'd better tell me."
"N...no, nobody named Sedaris has ever worked here..." stuttered Voscoti, obviously stalling for time. Sweat trickled down his face, and he looked right into Robin's eyes, though every second or two his gaze would drift away. "You... you can't do this!"
"I can put you in JAIL," said Robin, lifting Voscoti a few inches out of his chair. His voice was deadly serious. "Or maybe I can just throw you out the window."
"No... no, you wouldn't do that, you're one of the Teen Titans, you're-"
Robin kicked Voscoti's chair hard, sending it flying backwards and tumbling to the pavement below. He then walked forward about half a yard, dangling the struggling man over the edge of the building. Had Robin not been holding Voscoti by the shirt collar, he'd have met the same fate as his chair.
"LAST CHANCE!" shouted Robin, his voice coming out in a furious roar. "I WANT A NAME!"
Just then, three tazers were slammed into Robin, one on each of his sides and one on the small of his back. He let out a scream and released his grip on Voscoti, falling to one knee and allowing the man he was holding to fall. Voscoti desperately reached out and grabbed onto the ledge where the base of the window used to be, holding on with his fingers for dear life. He looked up into his office and saw Robin surrounded by three Baddalax guards, each one with a gun leveled at Robin's head.
"Kill him!" shouted Voscoti, struggling to pull himself back into the room. "Kill the kid, blow his brains out!"
His entire body still tingling with pain, Robin managed to pull out his bo staff and swing it across the legs of two of the guards, knocking them off their feet and causing their shots to miss. He then rammed his elbow into the face of another of the guards, knocking him back and stunning him enough to allow the Boy Wonder to then kick the gun out of his hand.
"Should've known he'd have called for backup," said Robin, stinging with pain from the tazer shocks but still ready to fight the three guards. "No worries... I can handle this..."
As soon as the three guards recovered, five more guards ran into the room, led by a tall, blonde woman with an assault rifle slung over her shoulder. She'd had enough experience with Red X to know not to take any one person lightly... especially Robin, the leader of the Teen Titans. She pointed at him, signaling for the four men accompanying her to rush forward and point their own weapons at Robin, who leapt over the desk and faced down the men, his bo staff held at a distance from his body.
"I hate to break this to you, Robin, but you're surrounded..." said Voscoti, gesturing to the three guards now standing behind Robin, in addition to the five in front of him. "Outmanned, and outgunned... even the Boy Wonder can't face down odds like that."
Suddenly, a barrage of explosive Xs flew into the room, quickly filling the entire area with smoke. As the guards began to cough, another X flew into each of their hands, knocking the guns out of their grasp and to the floor. The smoke cleared quickly, and Robin saw someone behind him that he never expected to see...
"I dealt with seventeen of these guys at once, you're telling me that you can't take on eight? You're getting soft, kid..."
The blonde's eyes narrowed in rage as she stared at Robin's partner... Red X, whose last contact with her had been an impetuous slap to the buttocks.
"Oh, I see you're still working here," said Red X, slyly staring past the four male guards and into the eyes of the angry blonde. "How's that sexual harassment lawsuit coming?"
"Quit screwing around and kill them both!" shouted Voscoti, angrily pointing at X and Robin. Instead of bending down to retrieve their weapons, the seven male guards rushed forward at Red X and Robin, attempting to tackle them to the ground. Nodding to one another to indicate that they were on the same page, X ran toward the group of three guards, and Robin ran toward the group of four.
"Yaaaaaaaah!" shouted Robin, slamming the long end of his staff into the chests of all four guards to push them backwards. This move stunned the guards for about a second, long enough for Robin to leap into the air and knock all of them away with a spinning kick.
X took more agile measures to deal with his group of guards, ducking under one of them as they attempted to tackle him, then spinning back around to the other two guards and shooting them with a large metallic X that pinned them together back-to-back, their arms around the other's waist.
"HEY!" shouted the blonde woman, leveling her gun at Red X's face, "why don't you try dodging this?"
"Okay," replied X, swinging to the side just as the woman fired the gun. The bullets missed him and slammed straight into the chest of the guard behind him, who'd been about to tackle Red X from behind. The guard behind X was killed instantly, and as he fell to the ground, the blonde woman let out a loud gasp, horrified that she'd killed one of her co-workers. "Ugh... maybe I should've tried something else there... didn't know that guy was right behind me..."
Robin was still busy with the other four guards, keeping them at bay with a series of quick punches and kicks, despite the fact that the men were much bigger than he was. Meanwhile, the blonde woman who'd inadvertently killed her fellow guard was now facing down Red X, horrified to fire her gun again lest she kill another one of her friends.
"That's why I never use guns," said Red X, staring into the blonde's eyes. "I'm all about stealing, but murder's totally not my thing."
"D...damn you... you made me kill him!" shouted the blonde, throwing down her gun and clenching her fists. "I'm gonna tear you apart!"
She charged toward Red X, who simply somersaulted over the woman and blasted her legs with an X that expanded and solidified into a crystalline substance, pinning the woman's feet to the floor.
"I'm sorry about your bad aim," said Red X, standing just a foot away from the pinned woman, "but that's no need to take it out on a poor thief like me, huh? C'mon... live and let-"
The woman's fist rammed into Red X's groin, causing him to let out a gasp of pain. She slammed her fists into his groin several more times, bringing him to his knees and bringing a quick end to his stream of arrogant taunting.
"Live and let live? I'm not going to let you live another second," said the blonde, bending down as much as she could and picking up one of the guns that her fellow guards had dropped to the ground earlier. She pointed the gun at Red X's temple and placed her finger on the trigger. The stunned and aching thief tried to get away, but the pain shooting through his body was far too severe, and his trembling legs wouldn't allow him to stand. "Goodbye, bastard."
With a loud battlecry, Robin leapt forward, seemingly coming out of nowhere as he brought his staff down on top of the blonde woman's head. Her eyes rolled back, and her body slumped forward, her back arching uncomfortably as her pinned legs remained fixed in place. She'd been knocked out, and wouldn't be feeling very good when she woke up.
"Robin?" Red X moaned weekly, peering behind the Boy Wonder to see the other four guards unconscious on the ground. "You... you saved my life..."
"What are you doing here?" asked Robin, helping the aching Red X up into a standing position. "You didn't come to steal anything again, did you?"
"Actually... I followed you," said Red X, pointing to the splintered fragments of the boarded-up window. "Though... I decided to come in another way."
Robin and Red X both quickly looked behind the large wooden desk at the back of the room... during the fight, Voscoti had escaped, most likely by leaping out the second-floor window. The man Robin had come to interrogate was gone... but he had left an important source of information behind.
"His computer," said Red X, walking over to Voscoti's desk and unplugging the computer's mainframe, then picking it up and setting it down on the ground next to Robin. "I don't think he had time to wipe the hard drive like he did last time, so... any information that you wanted to get from him, you might be able to get from this."
Robin didn't care about the computer or about Voscoti, at least for the moment. It was Red X, the thief who'd once again shown up out of the blue, that Robin wanted to know about... why he was here, and why he'd decided to help the Boy Wonder, especially after all that had happened the previous night.
"Tell me... tell me why you came," said Robin, keeping his bo staff extended and ready.
"These people... they're responsible for what happened to Cleo," replied Red X, displaying little emotion in his voice as he spoke. "I want to take them down as much as you do..."
"So... you're helping us, then?" asked Robin. "I think we can handle these people on our own."
"And so can I," replied Red X, with a tone that indicated that he didn't care whether Robin wanted him helping or not. "But this way, we kick their asses even quicker... and there aren't any conflicts of interest like there were the last time you and I were in this office together. You remember that, don't you?"
Robin didn't dignify X's response with any sort of statement at all... he simply put away his staff and began walking toward the open window, going around the desk and staring out toward the sidewalk where he left his T-Cycle.
"You take the computer, and I'll meet you in the parking lot," said Robin, still having serious doubts about whether or not he wanted to work with Red X. Just the thought of he and the Titans' previous battle with Red X... and what X had done to Starfire, made Robin leery... though he knew that X wouldn't be trying anything like that any time soon, especially after what had happened to Cleo. "Maybe that's what it took to bring him around... maybe he really is ready to be a hero..."
Robin leapt out the window, and Red X dashed out of the office through the front door... leaving the unconscious guards lying on the ground. About a minute or two later, one of them began to stir... the man who'd seemingly been killed by a hail of bullets fired by his female comrade. He stared down at his chest, where all of the bullets were still lodged, and groaned painfully, picking them one by one out of his uniform... under which was concealed a thick bulletproof vest.
"Unnh... and they told me not to wear a flak jacket unless I was out on a job..." groaned the guard, dropping the last of the bullets to the floor. "She's gonna owe me some apology sex the next time I see her..."
And with that, the guard passed out again.
O-O-O
When Robin walked into the main room of Titans Tower, all five Titans were there waiting for him... though all except Starfire were watching television on the couch. Starfire herself was standing in the center of the room, facing the door as the Boy Wonder entered... and was the first to see that he'd brought a guest.
"Robin!... and... the Red X?"
"That's right, Starfire," said Red X, his arms starting to ache as he lugged the heavy mainframe of Voscoti's desktop computer into the room and set it down next to where Starfire was standing. "Looks like we're temporary friends again. How 'bout that."
The four Titans on the couch stood up and walked over to Robin and Red X, each of them surprised to see the thief in their tower again, especially after what had happened to Cleo the previous night.
"Look, I know you're all going to ask me about why I'm helping you guys, but-"
"Your mom's still letting you be Red X?" said Beast Boy, a surprised expression on his face. He, like the other Titans, had been told by Red X that he was going to let his mother and sister know about his secret... and none of them expected to see him again, at least for a great while, if at all. "Or did you just sneak out?"
"Well, she wasn't too happy about it, but I managed to convince her," said Red X, reaching up and taking off his mask. A layer of sweat had accumulated on his forehead, and he used his other hand to wipe it away, having exerted a lot of energy to carry Voscoti's mainframe for the past fifteen minutes. "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to lug that thing around..."
With a giggle, Starfire reached over and picked up the mainframe, lifting it up and down several times with the amount of effort that a normal human being would use to lift a pebble.
"It is not that terribly heavy..." said Starfire, setting down the mainframe and returning her attention to Sanza. "But it is wonderful that you have returned!"
"I'll see if I can lift any names off this thing," said Cyborg, carrying the computer's mainframe out of the room and taking it toward the elevator, intending to use the equipment in his own room to scan the computer's hard drive. "Anyone wanna come with?"
Robin immediately followed, wanting to be the first to know the identity of Sedaris' employer. As soon as Robin left, Sanza began walking over to the couch.
"I need to lie down for a few minutes... I can stay until you guys figure out whatever it is you wanted to know, or... I can leave if you want."
Raven stared at Sanza, her eyes narrowed, her arms across her chest, obviously having no reason to trust the thief, even if he and the Titans did share a common enemy.
"Sanza...?" said Starfire, gently touching him on the shoulder and causing him to stop. "Are you... are you feeling better after...?"
"I'm fine," he replied, briefly glancing back and giving Starfire a smile. "But thanks. I haven't talked to Cleo yet... she's probably still in the hospital... I'm pretty sure she won't be at school tomorrow either. I'm not going to talk to her until she's ready... I really don't think she wants to have anything to do with me for a while."
Terra could feel a twinge of sadness as she looked over at Sanza and thought of what he must've gone through... his friend being hurt because of his actions... she knew the feeling well. In fact, thought Terra, she and Sanza had quite a lot in common... and there were still some things that she wanted to discuss with him.
"Hey... Sanza?" called Terra, just as he began to walk toward the couch again. He turned to face her, and their eyes met. "You can rest in my room if you want..."
Sanza remembered how comfortable Terra's bed was from the last time he'd slept on it... which had been several months ago, when he'd assisted the Titans in their battle against Slade. Knowing that it was a lot more comfortable than the Titans' couch, he gave a quick nod and began walking with Terra toward the elevator. Beast Boy watched them curiously, but said nothing, knowing that Sanza was only at the Tower to help.
His attention returned to the television, and he leapt back onto the couch with an excited yell.
"You know that when Robin finds out who the bad guy is, we'll probably have to leave to go kick their butt," said Raven, an annoyed tone in her voice as she slowly walked back around to take her place on the couch next to Beast Boy. "I just hope that the person Robin finds is the only bad guy we have to deal with..."
Because unlike Starfire, who was happy to see Red X helping the team once again, Raven was far less sure about letting Red X work together with the team... even if his only motives were getting back at the people who'd hurt Cleo, she knew that anger was a terribly dangerous emotion.
O-O-O
As Sanza sat his mask down on Terra's dresser and gently climbed onto her bed, Terra watched him with curiosity and a bit of sympathy. She, unlike the other Titans, had never fought Red X before... and had she not heard about his previous battles with the team, she'd have likely thought him to be a hero, just like the others. Still, she knew that she had her own internal demons to wrestle with, and unlike Red X, she had succumbed fully to Slade's power of persuasion... she'd become Slade's apprentice, while Red X had somehow remained defiant, even with his family's lives at stake.
"This bed is way more comfortable than anything at my house," sighed Sanza, looking at the beautifully-painted walls of Terra's room and allowing the gentle sunlight beaming in through the window to shine upon his body. "And this wallpaper's as pretty as my sister's..."
Terra continued to watch Sanza for several seconds before slowly walking over to the bed and sitting down, her back leaning against the side as she craned her head up to speak to him.
"I... I have to ask you something, I've been meaning to ask you this since you told me about what happened with you and Slade, but... why didn't you agree to become his apprentice? I mean, he threatened your family... he attacked you... so..."
"I don't take orders from anyone," replied Sanza, pride in his voice as he spoke. "It's the same reason I'd never want to be a Teen Titan."
Sanza then bowed his head and closed his eyes as he gave Terra the other reason why he would never want to work for Slade.
"Also... I had to make Slade pay for hurting my family," said Sanza. "I made a promise to my father before he died that I would protect my mother and my sister... so when Slade hurt my family, I swore to myself that I would defeat him... I had a chance to destroy him, but... but it would've meant that I would be killed too."
Terra closed her eyes, remembering the exact moment that she'd decided to sacrifice herself to save the city from the volcanic eruption that she herself had caused. As a result, she'd been frozen in stone for nearly a year. A tremble briefly went through Terra's body, and she began to speak.
"I... I had to sacrifice myself... I caused the city to be placed in danger, so... it was the least I could do..."
Sanza could detect that Terra's voice was beginning to break, and he rolled over and looked down at her, concerned that she was starting to get uncomfortable with talking to him.
"That's... that's why I let myself be taken in by Slade. I couldn't control my powers, so I took the easy way out... and it turned all of my true friends against me. I wouldn't blame any of the Titans if they never forgave me for betraying them..."
Sanza, who had once called Terra weak for becoming Slade's apprentice, could begin to understand just why she'd joined up with him. Still, he knew that even if Slade had taught Terra to control her powers, it didn't mean that she couldn't just walk away... it wasn't as if she had anything to lose by running.
"You have no family, from what I can tell... nothing that Slade can take away from you, so... why didn't you just let him teach you, and then tell him to go fuck himself? That's what I don't understand, Terra..."
"Because I was afraid of him!" shouted Terra, anger surfacing in her voice. She stared right into Sanza's eyes, and a single tear rolled down the right side of her face. "You're right, I know you're right, I shouldn't have become his apprentice but I was scared of him, I was scared that he would hurt me, or hurt my friends... that he would hurt Beast Boy... I was so scared, and... and I..."
Sanza slid down from the bed and sat down next to Terra, gently reaching up and wiping the tears from her face.
"I... I hurt all of them... I hurt Beast Boy... I'm still afraid that all of them will reject me... I mean, he promised, and I... I thought... but then..."
"...I'm sorry, Terra..." Sanza said, trying to be as sympathetic as he could. He too knew how it felt to have his own friends rejecting him... Cleo's rejection was still a painful sting to Sanza, and he felt it even now, trying to fight back his own tears as he thought about all the things Cleo had gone through, and how she'd so painfully rebuked him. "I... I know how that feels..."
Terra sniffled, shaking her head and looking away from Sanza.
"No... no, you don't... Cleo never promised like Beast Boy did... but... but you never hurt her like I did... you saved her and she still rejected you..."
Terra knew that she was the only one who truly deserved to have been rejected... She knew what would happen if her friends found out that she was working for Slade, and when they reacted exactly as she knew they would, she still tried to kill them... Sanza had saved Cleo's life, and she'd paid him back by telling him that she hated him. That was true rejection.
"Sanza... sometimes I wish that when I'd been brought back to life, none of them had been around..."
"What do you mean by-?"
"Don't tell any of the others this," said Terra, turning back to Sanza and bowing her head, "but I... I just... I wanted a few days to be alone... to think about everything that I did before having to go back to them... and if I decided not to, I could just go off and start a new life, without any of them even knowing I'd been revived at all. I love Beast Boy, I really do, but every time I look at him, I remember what I did to him and I hate myself for it... somewhere inside me, there's a part of me that wants all of them to reject me... like... there's a part of me that wants me to be punished for everything I did."
Sanza began to speak, but he knew that he didn't have anything that he could say that could possibly make Terra feel better. This girl had been through many of the same things that he'd been through... fear, rejection, the possibility of self-sacrifice... and yet he couldn't think of any way to sympathize with her, even in her time of need.
His mind drifted back to Cleo again, and how much her rejection had hurt him. He loved Cleo, but he knew that Terra loved Beast Boy as well... and his rejection of her must've hurt just as much, if not more. What Terra needed was someone who would never, ever reject her... Beast Boy was definitely that person, thought Sanza, but Terra herself didn't believe it... and then, he began to feel as if he had to do something. He reached over and took Terra's hands in his own, and looked right into her eyes, making sure she had his full attention before he began to speak.
"Terra... whatever you do, whatever you say, whatever you decide... I don't care, I just want you to know that you'll always have a friend in me. You can talk to me about anything, and I promise I'll always listen. I know you've been rejected before, but... but so have I, and I just... I just want you to know that you'll always have a friend, no matter what. I promise."
"...thanks," said Terra, gently releasing Sanza's hands and looking away from him, a smile briefly crossing her face. She lifted her trembling hand to her lip, looking back toward Sanza, who gave her an understanding smile. "And... and you too... if you... if you wanna talk..."
Sanza nodded and stood up, stretching his arms over his head and reaching to pick up his mask from the dresser.
"Well... I thought I needed a nap, but I guess talking to you made me feel a lot better," said Sanza, smiling as he put the mask back on his face. "Remember, Terra... remember what I said."
Terra watched Red X until he left the room, then sat down at the side of her bed as the door slid closed. She didn't know why, but she could feel a strange sense of comfort as she kept going over Red X's words in her head. His promise had given her peace of mind... a peace that she hadn't felt since she'd kissed Beast Boy on the night after returning to the tower.
It was a peace that Terra was very grateful to have...
O-O-O
Robin had gathered the Titans and Red X in the main room after Cyborg had found the name of the man being employed by Sedaris. When he brought up Frederick Dullahan's profile on the main screen, Red X's eyes narrowed, and he could feel anger beginning to enter his body.
"That's the guy," said Red X, pointing at Dullahan's face. "The man behind it all... he's their leader, and he's probably in that building downtown right now, scheming with that bodyguard of his..."
"So why don't we go to that building and stop them?" shouted Beast Boy, obviously eager to take Dullahan down. "I mean, they're obviously dangerous! We gotta stop them before-"
"It's not that easy," said Red X, and Robin replied with a solemn nod.
"He's the CEO of one of the largest companies in the city... and we can't just bust up into his building and drag him out in handcuffs."
"Why not?" shouted Beast Boy, waving his hands in the air. "We've got evidence on that computer, right?"
"That computer just links him to Sedaris," said Cyborg.
"For us to be able to arrest him, we'd need hard evidence linking him to a plot to destroy the city," said Raven. "Most the villains we fight typically attack out in the open... they make a huge mess, and there are hundreds of witnesses to their crimes. This guy is different... to catch him, we'd need indisputable proof of a crime."
"And considering that four of his co-conspirators are deceased, we will not easily be able to find witnesses who will testify to his misdeeds..." said Starfire, a worried look on her face. For several seconds, the Titans thought amongst themselves, attempting to figure out a way that they could link Dullahan and Sedaris to the recent attempts to destroy Jump City.
It was Red X who came up with a solution... by returning to the very beginning.
"The quantum computer," said Red X, his hands on his hips. "It's got data on it about everything these guys have been planning... it was used to revive Terra, and it was probably used to coordinate the signal being sent out to the seismic generators."
"Of course!" said Starfire, her eyes lighting up. "And it is probably still in the ruins of the building that we were in last night!"
"I'm picking up some kinda signal from that building," said Cyborg, checking the scanner built into his arm. "Whatever it is, something survived the collapse..."
"Then we need to move!" said Robin. "Titans, go!"
O-O-O
The partially-collapsed LaredoSoft production facility was surrounded by firefighters and demolition workers, who were hastily clearing the glass, cement, and drywall ruins left by the destruction of the center third of the building. Standing in the center of the wreckage was a tall, well-dressed man, who was bent over, sifting through the smoldering ruins with a smile on his face. He stood up, holding a small, liquid-filled test-tube in his hand... the tube was completely undamaged, and the glass stopper holding the tube closed remained in place.
"There you are," said Sedaris, holding the glass tube up to the sunlight and inspecting the glow that refracted from the clear liquid. "I love black-box technology... who'd have thought that you could actually make glass from such material? Ah, the wonders of modern science..."
As Sedaris began walking out of the wreckage, casually striding past firefighters and men in bulldozers, he removed another marvel of technology from the inside pocket of his jacket... his cell phone. He held the phone to his lips and dialed Frederick Dullahan's number.
"I have the quantum computer, sir... I'm bringing it back to the Mycoso Building now."
"Very nice," came the voice over the phone. "You wouldn't believe how much money I had to pay out in bribes to keep people away from the part of the wreckage where the computer fell."
"I can only imagine, sir."
A helicopter lowered down into the parking lot, and Sedaris walked over and climbed inside, the craft lifting up into the air and swiftly making its way toward the skyscrapers of downtown Jump City.
Sedaris had beaten the Teen Titans by nearly thirteen minutes.
O-O-O
And so as one plan ends, another begins! Alliances are forged, and it's time for the final third of the story! But until then, keep sending in those reviews... I cherish every one of them!