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
Raven and Terra, two of Beast Boy's best friends, teammates, and the two girls he loved with every fiber of his being, were completely trapped, completely helpless, and completely at Sedaris' mercy... and he could only save one of them.
"Well, Beast Boy? I don't have all day, you really need to make a decision..." With his finger on a large red button in the remote control held in his hand, Sedaris held Raven and Terra's lives in the balance... and if Beast Boy made any move to try to save them, both would be vaporized in an instant.
"I... I can't..." sobbed Beast Boy, his eyes futilely staring down at the floor, unable to bring himself to look at either of the two girls who he had endangered with his indecisiveness. Trapped inside their glass and metal prisons, both Raven and Terra watched intently, each of them struggling but both knowing that they had no chance to escape.
"I can't focus my powers... not like this..." thought Raven, looking over at Terra in the opposite capsule. After all the two girls had been through together, one would expect Raven to feel a sense of animosity toward Terra, especially since her survival meant that Terra would have to die.
But with both girls' lives in supreme danger, and despite the fact that she was afraid, though trying to conceal it, Raven's primary concern was Terra's life... and as scared as she was of dying, Raven was silently pleading for Beast Boy to save Terra instead of her.
In the other capsule, Terra was even more frightened and frantic than Raven. She struggled and screamed, and when Beast Boy brought himself to look up at Terra, he could see that tears were making their way down the blonde geomancer's cheeks. All Terra could think about was every cruel word that she'd ever said, both to Beast Boy and Raven... and that both of their lives were in danger because of her.
"They're both my friends! I can't choose between them!" Beast Boy pleaded, desperate for Sedaris to spare the lives of his friends. "Just kill me instead!"
"Beast Boy, if I wanted to kill you, I'd snap your neck right now, just like I did to Frederick Dullahan," replied Sedaris. "I don't want to do that, because it's not interesting. This... this is very interesting. And you need to choose..."
"No..."
Beast Boy looked up at Raven and Terra, his eyes darting back and forth between them as memories of every moment he'd spent with the two girls played over and over in his head. He remembered Raven's sarcasm and Terra's sweetness, Raven's empathy and Terra's laughter... and he remembered how beautiful both girls looked when he could get them to smile.
"Please... just save Terra... you have a life with her, you have a future with her... I should have been stronger, I never should've let either of you get into a situation like this..."
"Beast Boy... please don't let me die..." Terra's eyes stared straight into Beast Boy's, and her fear, which had already spiraled out of control, had forced her to abandon all thoughts of Raven... her own life was in terrible danger, and she didn't want to spend her last moments in terrified, helpless agony. She screamed out through the tape over her lips, a cry that penetrated the glass barrier around her and filled the room.
"She's begging you to save her, Beast Boy... but then again, she did betray you and try to kill you. On the other hand, from what I've seen of Raven, she's a total bitch. You really don't want to save her either. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just making this harder than it already-"
"SHUT UP!" screamed Beast Boy, turning toward Sedaris with a look of pure rage on his face, a rage that contrasted the sobs in his voice and the tears running down his cheeks. "If you hurt them... I'll rip you to pieces..."
"You have ten seconds, Beast Boy," said Sedaris, smiling and gesturing toward the two girls, his finger squarely on the button that would send them both to their deaths. "Ten... nine..."
"No... NO!"
"Eight... seven... six... choose, Beast Boy. Five..."
Beast Boy turned toward Raven and Terra once more, his mouth wide open, his eyes conveying his tremendous grief, his pain, and the agony that seeing their lives in danger put him through. Raven's eyes were wide as she continuously tried to tell Beast Boy to pick Terra... who was now trembling violently, saying nothing, waiting for the end.
"Four... three... two..."
"I CAN'T!"
Beast Boy fell to his knees again, his arms limp at his sides.
"THEN THEY BOTH DIE!"
Sedaris' finger began to press the button. Raven closed her eyes, preparing for death, while Terra let out a loud, muffled scream.
"Aaaaaaaaaagh!" Sedaris dropped the remote control with a cry of pain, the top of his right hand sliced open by a red shuriken. He turned to see Red X standing near the back of the room, his arms over his chest.
"What, I don't get to pick one of them too? That's really not fair."
As Beast Boy watched in relieved astonishment, Red X ran across the room and leapt into the air, spinning around and striking the stunned Sedaris in the face with a powerful kick that sent him tumbling backwards. Sedaris immediately dove for his remote control, only to have Red X kick it away, then kick again, hitting Sedaris in the nose and sprawling him flat on his back.
"Beast Boy, save the girls, I'll deal with this prick."
Beast Boy still couldn't believe what he was seeing. The thief who had seemingly abandoned him had now returned, at great personal risk, to engage Sedaris. Whether he'd come to save Raven and Terra didn't matter... they were safe, at least for the moment, though they clearly weren't out of the woods yet. As Sedaris climbed to his feet, Beast Boy ran over to the capsules containing Raven and Terra, both of whom still seemed extremely nervous, Terra much more so than Raven.
"It seems I didn't beat you badly enough last time," said Sedaris, striking Red X in the face with a punch that nearly knocked him off his feet. The thief stumbled back, then extended his wrist blades and charged Sedaris again, slashing furiously at him. The attack came quickly, but Sedaris was slightly quicker, dodging the X-blades and kicking the thief right in the chest. The kick was powerful, and it struck X right in the spot where he'd been bruised during his fight with Sagittarius Gamma. He let out a scream, hitting the ground hard and clutching his injured ribs.
As X continued to struggle with Sedaris, Beast Boy was struggling with his decision about which girl to free first. He looked back and forth between Terra and Raven, the latter of whom was screaming loudly through her gag in an attempt to tell Beast Boy that it didn't matter and that his time to save them was running out.
"Just smash both the cells and get us out of here, Beast Boy!"
Interpreting Raven's screams as a sign of fear, Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla and smashed Raven's prison to pieces. Meanwhile, Red X had just hit Sedaris with an electrical charge that temporarily stunned him, allowing the thief a few vital seconds of rest.
"I don't know what you were trying to accomplish," said Red X, readying another attack as Sedaris recovered from the shock. "Unless you're secretly one of those nerds on the internet who wants to see who Beast Boy likes more. You're not one of those people, are you?"
Sedaris said nothing, lunging forward and throwing a punch at X's head that he was able to stop by reaching up with both hands and holding back Sedaris' fist. He then fired off a spray of red goo, showering Sedaris and the area immediately behind him. With one mighty flex, Sedaris shook off the goo and kneed X in the gut, causing him to fall to one knee.
With his powerful gorilla arms, Beast Boy was easily able to free Raven from her shackles. He detransformed and pulled the tape off of her mouth, then immediately turned away from her, knowing that his feelings for her had endangered her life. She already didn't want to speak to him, and now he feared that she would never speak to him again.
"Look, Rae, I-"
Red X flew past both of them, having been tossed halfway across the room by Sedaris. Before either Beast Boy or Raven could react, Sedaris had grabbed the changeling by the neck and was holding him in the air, his fingers tightly clenched around Beast Boy's throat, cutting off his oxygen.
"I told you I could snap your neck any time I wanted," said Sedaris. Beast Boy, despite his intense rage, couldn't gather the energy to free himself from the madman's grasp, and Red X, sprawled out on the ground next to what had once been Raven's prison, could do little to assist him. "I'll kill you, then I'll kill both of your girlfriends!"
"Haven't you done enough to him today?" shouted Raven, raising her hands into the air and taking control of the glass on the floor around her. "Azarath, metreon, ZINTHOS!"
Hundreds of shards of glass flew around Beast Boy and sliced past Sedaris, cutting him in several places and causing him to drop Beast Boy and stumble back, blood flowing from his minor wounds. He threw a punch at Raven, who raised an energy shield to block it, then pushed that shield back toward Sedaris, knocking him away and giving herself and Beast Boy room to breathe.
Beast Boy stood up, gasping for air and turning to Raven. He opened his mouth to speak, but she shook her head and turned to Sedaris, who was already coming toward them again.
"Forget about what just happened," said Raven, "and let's focus on taking this guy down. I know you have feelings about me, Beast Boy... you can save the confessions and apologies for later... I'm not going to let any of it distract me."
But Beast Boy's attention was now focused on Terra, still trapped within one of the glass cylinders and still in danger of being blown to pieces if Sedaris got his hands on the controller again. She looked down at Beast Boy with fearful eyes, and he knew that he couldn't let Terra remain a prisoner for another second.
"Wait, I have to save-"
"Already on it," said Red X, who was standing just in front of Terra's prison and had both of his wrist blades extended. "I'll free Terra, you guys just need to cover my ass."
Beast Boy gave a reluctant nod, but when he looked at where Sedaris had been, he saw nothing... Sedaris was now bending down to pick up the controller, and had begun to lower his index finger toward the large, red button.
"NO!"
But before Sedaris could press the button, the remote turned entirely black and had skidded across the room, Raven's powers having knocked it away at the last minute. As Sedaris went for the controller again, Beast Boy turned into a rhinoceros and slammed into him from behind, sending him flying into the concrete wall nearly. He then transformed into a bear, stalking toward Sedaris and swiping at him numerous times. Sedaris managed to keep Beast Boy's claws at bay with his hands, but it was clear that the now-furious Beast Boy wouldn't be denied his chance for revenge.
The sound of shattering glass quickly brought a wave of relief through Terra, who let out a muffled sigh as Red X sliced through her shackles and lowered her gently to the ground. He peeled the tape from Terra's lips, and the blonde girl immediately threw her arms around him, tears pouring down her cheeks.
"Terra... we have to-"
Beast Boy screamed loudly as Sedaris knocked him across the room. He detransformed in mid-air, landing on the floor just next to Raven and groaning painfully as Sedaris stalked toward him. Raven immediately stepped in front of him and raised her arms to blast Sedaris, only to be knocked to the ground with a powerful swipe of the man's hand. Sedaris then raised his leg to stomp the fallen Raven and Beast Boy, only to have the ground seemingly explode under him, showering him with rocks and throwing him back into the wall.
"I... I won't be intimidated by you!" shouted Terra, her tear-filled eyes glowing bright yellow as she tried to mask her trembling voice with strong words. She extended her arm, opening the palm of her right hand and causing two large stone arms to burst out of the wall behind Sedaris, holding him in place as soon as he got to his feet. The arms began tightly squeezing him, and with every second, his struggles became more and more frantic.
"Terra...?" said Beast Boy quietly, watching as his friend used her powers to make the arms around Sedaris constrict tighter and tighter.
"Unnngh... aaaaaaah!" Terra clenched her teeth, her sweat mixing with her tears as she struggled to keep Sedaris in the grip of the rocky arms encircling his body. A grin appeared on Sedaris' face, and the arms keeping him in place began to crack. Then, with an explosion of rock and dust, the arms shattered. Terra fell back into Beast Boy's arms, and Sedaris stood free, his wounded figure still as imposing as ever.
He stared down Red X and the three Titans whom he'd tormented so much. Beast Boy and Raven stared right back, neither of them ready to back down... Beast Boy in particular looked as if he was ready to fight to the death. Terra, though clearly showing vulnerability and weakness in her stature and expression, also looked ready to fight, and Red X stood beside them, his hands resting on the back of his head.
"I don't care," said Sedaris, gazing out over the group of four, his features showing no expression. "I'll crush all four of you."
"Are you sure?" said Raven, all the fear in her body having melted away. "You kept us trapped, completely helpless... and Red X hadn't even shown up. It looks like you were only ready to take on one of us."
"You're pathetic, Sedaris..." said Beast Boy, his eyes narrowing as he spoke. "I don't care how tough you think you are... you won't get away with hurting my friends."
Sedaris looked over at Red X, who pointed his finger right in Sedaris' face.
"If you want to fight, you'll have to take on all four of us... and if you're not down with that, then I've got two words for ya!"
With both of his arms meeting at his wrists and forming the shape of an X, the thief began repeatedly slamming his arms down over his crotch. "SUCK IT!"
Raven glanced over at Red X, raising an eyebrow and letting out a loud sigh.
"That's cute," said Sedaris. "Very, very cute. But I don't have time for any of you... I have important business to attend to, such as the end of your precious city. I must bid all of you adieu."
And with that, Sedaris turned away from the wall, walking behind the shattered glass cylinders and pulling back a large, metallic gate. Almost immediately, Raven turned toward him and fired a large dark energy blast, only to have it explode behind him and throw up a huge cloud of smoke that completely obscured Sedaris' exit. The four teens peered through the smoke, only to realize that Sedaris was completely gone.
"We should go after him," said Beast Boy, clenching his fists. "I'm not gonna let him get away with-"
"He might be leading us into another trap," replied Raven, who then turned toward Red X. "And... what did you just-"
"You wouldn't understand," said the thief, turning away from Raven and looking over at the shattered glass capsules. "Dammit... Sedaris is even more evil than I thought... making Beast Boy choose between two of his friends like that... I swear, I won't rest until Sedaris is no more..."
Once Sedaris had left, the gravity of the situation slowly sunk in. Beast Boy let out a loud cry of frustration, while Terra fell to one knee and put her head in her hands.
"When I'm done with Sedaris, he'll be begging me to take him to jail," said Beast Boy, reaching up and wiping a tear from his left eye. He tried to block what had just happened out of his mind, but the fact remained that Raven and Terra had both been endangered... and it wasn't just because of Sedaris, it was because of him. "Terra, Raven, I-"
A quiet sobbing diverted Beast Boy's attention to Terra, who now was on both knees, her head bowed toward the ground. Her entire body was trembling, and every few seconds she would whisper 'I'm sorry'. Beast Boy walked over and placed his hand on Terra's shoulder, which only made her cry even harder.
"Beast Boy..."
"Terra, I should've told you... about... about... Terra, I-"
"Beast Boy, Raven, I'm sorry... I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I..."
Raven and Red X watched the sobbing girl with mixed emotions, both of them forgetting about catching Sedaris as they realized how close it had come to being a very, very tragic situation. Red X's last-second interference had arguably saved Raven and Terra's lives... and perhaps even Beast Boy's, who likely would've been killed in the resulting one-on-one fight between him and Sedaris.
"Terra... none of this is your fault..."
"I... I still feel so terrible, Beast Boy..."
O-O-O
The elevator had taken Robin and Starfire to a small room at the very bottom of the bunker, where a single, large computer monitor had been placed. On the screen were images of various cities... not only Jump City, but San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, and Los Angeles, all of them interspersed with images of earthquakes and fire, as well as an image showing a large diagram of the earth's tectonic plates.
"This must be the control center," said Starfire, nervously walking up to the computer console and staring up at the screen. "But... where are the controls for the device that Sedaris is using to destroy the city?"
"I'm not sure, Starfre..." Robin began carefully searching the room, running his hands along the walls before joining Starfire in front of the computer and looking up at the screen. "And why are there so many cities besides our own? Is this what Sedaris meant when he told Red X that his plans weren't just for this city?"
The image of the tectonic plates was particularly telling... a glowing red line, extending completely up the length of the entire San Andreas Fault, was a clear indicator of the means by which Sedaris would be executing his plans.
"Robin, I... I can tell by your expression that there is some great significance to the map of Earth displayed on one of these images. Please, tell me exactly what you believe you have uncovered..."
"Starfire, it's not good," said Robin, using his finger to indicate the red line. "That's the San Andreas Fault. It's a geological boundary between the plate that we're on and the plate that the rest of the country is on."
"Wait... when you speak of plates, do you refer to some kind of dinner? Or perhaps a collectible plate?"
"No, Starfire, it's... it's geology, it's about the parts of the Earth's crust that the continents sit on."
"Crust... are we now talking about pie? Robin, forgive me, but... though I have knowledge of the language of Earth, the geology is foreign to me... on my planet, the land does not move... it is all completely fixed, earthquakes occur because gravity from our suns causes the entire planet to shake."
"Starfire, we need to stop Sedaris from activating the fault line, and to do that, we-"
A loud explosion, followed by a violent rumbling, shook the room that Robin and Starfire were in and caused both of them to fall to their knees. When Starfire stood up, she looked at the screen and saw it entirely blank, except for the words 'Intruder Defense System Activated'.
"Robin, our presence here has activated the earthquake!"
"I don't think so, Starfire, I just think this place is caving in... we've overstayed our welcome!"
Robin turned to the elevator at the back of the room, but the cables and levers that activated it had already been destroyed by the rumbling... now it seemed that there was no way out. Starfire, however, had other plans. She floated over and grabbed Robin, flying up through the elevator shaft and carrying the two up to the room where they'd once been. They ran out of that room and into the room where they had fought Gemini Delta, only to find that the metallic gate leading out of the room still blocked their exit.
"That's not good," said Robin, watching as Starfire attempted to blow up the gate with Starbolts. The Starbolts had no effect whatsoever, and Starfire immediately let out a cry of frustration. "We'll just have to find another way out!"
That way was provided in just a few seconds, as Cyborg smashed in the gate and tossed the crumpled piece of metal over to the side of the room, gesturing for Robin and Starfire to follow him out.
"C'mon, guys, this place is cavin' in, we gotta hurry!"
"We must wait for word of the others!" shouted Starfire, just as Robin received an incoming call on his T-Com. He took it out and opened it up, seeing Raven on the other end. She and her three companions appeared to be running.
"Robin, this place is coming down fast... we're making our way to the exit, are you-"
"We are too... we'll be out just after you guys. What happened, did you see Sedaris?"
"We did," Raven replied, and Robin raised an eyebrow. "He escaped... but not without almost killing Terra and I. It's a long story, we'll explain when we get back to the tower..."
"All right," said Robin, closing the T-Com and placing it back at his side. He turned and followed Starfire and Cyborg out of the room, seconds before a large group of rocks caved in behind them, completely filling the room where he'd just been standing. "Titans, move!"
O-O-O
When Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg ran through the bunker's entrance and out into the desert, Beast Boy, Terra, Raven, and Red X had all gathered around the T-Car. Beast Boy had apologized numerous times to Terra, but each time, she had simply replied with an apology of her own, and she hadn't been able to stop herself from crying.
"We have made it out..." said Starfire, immediately noticing Terra's sobs and reaching out to touch her shoulder. "Terra... what has happened to-"
"Nothing," she replied, waving off Starfire and turning away from the rest of the group. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened... and every terrible thing that she'd ever done, especially to Raven. Even when the two of them were trapped in the glass cylinders, she'd begged for Beast Boy to save her and to leave Raven behind... she'd selfishly focused on her own survival, and now she couldn't even look at Raven, and could barely bring herself to look at any of the others.
"Robin, could you come with me for a second?" While Starfire and Cyborg conversed with Red X and Beast Boy, Raven led Robin away from the group and informed him about everything that had happened in the bunker... from her and Terra's capture by Sedaris, to Sedaris' psychological torture of Beast Boy, to Red X's rescue and the subsequent battle... and the fact that Beast Boy and Terra probably wouldn't be the same for quite some time. "It's... it's partially my fault, I shouldn't have allowed them to take both of us... I tried to distract the men away from Terra, but there were too many, and-"
"You did fine. How's Beast Boy taking it? I can see that he feels terrible, but... you say Terra's the one most broken up about it?"
"She and I had a disagreement or two before we were captured. She still doesn't trust herself, and she still doesn't think that we want her on the team..."
"Has Beast Boy spoken to her?"
"He tried, but... Robin, Sedaris kept talking about how Beast Boy was in love with both of us... Terra and I, I mean. I should've sensed it earlier, I thought something was bothering him, but..."
Raven still didn't know what to make of the revelation that Beast Boy had feelings for her... she knew that the team still had to deal with Sedaris, and that Beast Boy still felt horrible about what had happened to her and Terra. Having to worry about whether Raven was still his friend would just weigh even heavier on Beast Boy's conscience... and with all the help that she had given him, Raven could understand why Beast Boy may have developed feelings for her.
"I just should've been able to sense it... before it led to the situation that Sedaris put the three of us in..."
Starfire and Cyborg had entered the T-Car, leaving Beast Boy standing alone with Red X next to his convertible, and Terra leaning against the back of the T-Car, staring up at the stars.
"Dude... I just... I want to thank you for saving Raven and Terra-"
"I was going after Sedaris, not them," said Red X, hopping into the driver's seat of his car. He glanced over at Terra, feeling a twinge of sadness as he saw another tear come down her cheek. "I told you, I'm not a hero."
"You're a hero to me... look, I... I don't feel like going back with the others, at least... not in the same car. Can I ride with you?"
"Kid, what makes you think I'm going back to the Tower?" asked Red X, watching as Beast Boy walked around to the other side of the car. "And even if I did, I can't take this thing in the water like you can with the T-Car. I'd park this thing in the parking garage closest to the bay and hop in your car."
"That's fine, I just... I just wanna talk," replied Beast Boy, getting in with Red X and looking over at him. "Is that fine?"
"Whatever," said the thief, turning the keys in his ignition and driving toward the dirt path leading back to the city. "Seriously, I didn't mean to save Raven and Terra... I guess I'm glad I did, though."
As Red X's car disappeared off in the distance, Robin had climbed into the front passenger seat of the T-Car with Cyborg, leaving Terra and Raven as the only two people who hadn't gotten in either car. As Raven began the short walk to the T-Car, Terra watched her, realizing that she had an apology to make... and that she couldn't start any sort of healing until she told Raven exactly what she felt. She walked over to Raven and stopped her before she could get in the T-Car, still struggling to speak as Raven turned to face her.
"Can we... can we talk... just a... just a bit?"
Terra's teeth bit into her lip, and her eyes wobbled as more tears began pouring from them. Sensing Terra's intense emotional distress, Raven gently led Terra away from the car and out into the desert at a distance that none of her friends could hear them speak.
Terra looked into Raven's eyes, her entire body trembling... she remembered everything she'd ever said to Raven, from their first meeting, to their fight in the factory, to their argument inside the bunker... the girls' entire relationship had been marked by incidents of absolute contempt and hatred, and now, all Terra wanted was to make everything right... she knew that all the trouble she'd caused Raven was because of her own insecurities and her inability to deal with them.
"Rae... I'm so sorry... I'm sorry for every hateful thing I've ever said to you, I'm sorry for our fight, I'm sorry I betrayed the Titans, I-"
"Forget it, Terra... you're back on the team, and-"
"I can't forget it, Rae! While we were trapped, I just kept thinking of everything... of how I couldn't fight off those men, of how I called you a witch, and... and I even wanted Beast Boy to pick me instead of you! I was so scared, I didn't want to die, and-"
Terra could no longer speak, and she nearly collapsed again, her entire body trembling violently. Raven reached up and softly brushed the tears away from Terra's face, knowing that Terra truly regretted her actions, and knowing that she could trust this girl, despite everything that had happened in the past... and that what Terra needed now, more than anything else in the world, was to know that she still had friends... friends like Raven.
"We were both scared, Terra... both of us were in terrible danger... it wasn't your fault, it wasn't Beast Boy's, it wasn't mine..."
"No, Raven... it was my fault... I couldn't fight those men off, I tried, but-"
"Nobody could've fought them off, it would've taken the whole team to get out of the situation we were in. We were ambushed, Terra... it's all right... I... I was scared too..."
Terra blinked and looked up at Raven, who now had her hand on Terra's shoulder.
"As for you and me... everything you did is in the past. What we need to concentrate on now is being a team... Terra, I know I've said some bad things to you in the past-"
"Things I deserved, Rae..."
"Not all of them. Terra, I do trust you... and I was scared for you, I didn't want you to die thinking that all of this was your fault. You're my friend, Terra... no matter what either of us have done, you're still my friend, and what happened in that bunker isn't going to change that. Ever."
Without saying a word, Terra wrapped her arms around Raven, her head leaning on her teammate's shoulder. Raven's own hands gently caressed Terra's back, and she could hear Terra whispering 'thank you' right into her ear.
O-O-O
"Beast Boy, when I told you you were going to have to choose, I didn't... ya know, I didn't mean literally."
"Ugh... but you were right."
"If it makes you feel better, we can stop by the gas station on the way back to the Tower and I can pick some numbers for you..."
Red X's attempt to lighten the mood had done nothing to ease the burden that still weighed heavily on Beast Boy's heart. The changeling had endangered the two girls that he dearly loved, all because he couldn't make up his mind... not only that, but now Terra and Raven both knew that he loved both of them... after he'd led Terra to believe that she was the only girl in his life.
It was enough to make Beast Boy want to throw up... an action which Red X strongly discouraged.
"This is my mom's car, remember... second I see you start to puke, I put an X on your mouth. You'll probably end up choking to death."
"Oh, that's very nice," said Beast Boy, angrily staring into X's eyes. "Just because you saved Raven and Terra doesn't give you any right to-"
"Kid, you forget, I do what I want, when I want."
The thief pulled the convertible into a parking garage adjacent to the bay, guiding it into a spot on the second level and stepping out of the car a few seconds before Beast Boy did.
"You comin'? The T-Car's gonna pull up in front of this place pretty soon, if we're not there they'll go on without us, and you're not sleeping in my room."
"Dude, you forget, I can fly. Why are you coming back to the tower, anyway?"
"I told you... I do what I want, when I want. And I want to see how Terra's doing... I don't know why, but... it felt terrible seeing her like that... I need to say something to her, at least if she'll let me."
Of course, X knew that Beast Boy would probably want to talk to Terra first... which was just fine with the thief, who would just have to find a way to occupy himself until Beast Boy was done.
"Helping Robin look for that bastard Sedaris... that will keep me busy. Anyone who would force someone to choose between two people that they love is pure evil... if it was my mother and sister..."
Now standing outside the parking garage, Red X looked over at Beast Boy, who was staring down at the sidewalk, his arms to his side.
"By the way, what Sedaris did... that was pretty low. If it had been my mother and sister in those tubes... I don't even want to think about it, Beast Boy. Don't worry... we're going to get him."
"Yes... yes, we will."
O-O-O
Terra leaned against the window in her room, her forehead pressed up against the glass, her eyes staring down at the floor. Through the corners of her tear-filled eyes, she could see the lights of the Jump City skyline pulsating through her window. It was a beautiful sight, but it didn't bring her a moment of comfort... her talk with Raven had given her temporary relief, but there was still the matter of Beast Boy, and the terrible reality that she'd been less than a second away from death.
She heard the door open behind her, but couldn't see who had entered... only when the person began to speak did she find out who had come to talk to her.
"Terra... I'm sorry..."
She turned around and saw Beast Boy, standing a few feet away from her and looking into her eyes, occasionally glancing away. She could hear the sadness in his voice and took a step toward him, brushing her hand across her face.
"Beast Boy, no..."
"I should've told you everything... about Raven... I... how could I say all those things to you and not even let you know that I had feelings for Raven too? It's just-"
"It's fine, Beast Boy... I... I shouldn't have expected you to keep me in your heart the whole time."
"But I did, Terra! I just... whenever I got sad about it, Raven was there... she didn't want to say anything to me, but she did... she got me through the first few weeks, and then I just... I didn't realize how much I cared about her until just a few days ago!"
Beast Boy's voice was beginning to break, but then again, so was Terra's... the both of them could barely speak to one another without breaking down into tears, but neither wanted to cry... both wanted to protect the other from seeing them in such a sad, vulnerable state.
"You... you're right though... she was there, and I was a statue," said Terra, turning back toward the window. "And that was my fault..."
Beast Boy reached over and placed his hand on Terra's shoulder. She turned to face him, and he leaned in and wrapped his arms around her, his head leaning over the side of her shoulder.
"But I didn't let you know, and that was my fault, Terra... from now on I'm going to be completely honest... honest about everything... about you, about Raven..."
"You're already honest, Beast Boy..." replied Terra, wiping her tears on the collar of his outfit. "You... came and you told me about-"
"But it could've been too late, Terra-"
"It's never too late."
Beast Boy looked up at Terra, who had managed to muster a smile as she recalled the lesson that Beast Boy taught her, and that she had repeated to him just before sacrificing herself. Both of them were alive... despite all that Sedaris had done, Beast Boy and Terra were alive to tell each other how they felt... it wasn't too late for Beast Boy to tell Terra about Raven.
But it had almost been...
As Beast Boy exited Terra's room and made his way back to his own, he brushed past Raven in the hallway. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he turned to her, a nervous and apologetic look on his face.
"Raven... I... I just..."
"I should've known, Beast Boy. This changes nothing between us. You know that."
Raven's expression was calm, neutral... the fact that she now knew that Beast Boy had been harboring secret feelings for her didn't make her mad at all... it didn't make her swoon into his arms, but it didn't make her mad, either. Even after her life had been put in danger, she seemed just fine with Beast Boy's feelings... she was more mad at herself for not discovering them earlier.
"I know... look, if this means you never want to talk to me again-"
"If you need someone to talk to, and it's something that you can't discuss with Terra... yes, you can talk to me. Just don't try to tell me any jokes."
And with that, Raven was gone... back on her way down the hall, leaving Beast Boy alone to contemplate what she had just said.
"She... she said I can talk to her... she doesn't hate me!"
As Beast Boy turned back toward his room, he managed to crack his first smile in quite some time.
O-O-O
When Red X stepped into Terra's room, she was sitting on the side of the bed, holding a metallic, heart-shaped object in her hands. It was the box that Beast Boy had made for her, and when she stared at her reflection in the mirror on the inside lid of the box, she could barely stand to look at it for more than a second.
"It's my fault our lives were in danger... I know Raven and Beast Boy say that it wasn't, but..."
The door slid open again, and Terra looked up to see Red X, she and Raven's unlikely savior, standing in the doorway. He stepped into the room and stopped about halfway between the bed and the door, looking down at the box that Terra was holding.
"Why are you still here?" asked Terra, who had no idea why the thief had accompanied the Titans all the way back to the Tower.
"Well, Raven and Beast Boy already thanked me for saving them," lied the thief, "and I was hoping to get your thanks too."
Terra raised her eyebrow, then sadly frowned and hung her head, realizing that Red X had indeed saved her life... on more occasions than one.
"I still haven't thanked you for saving me that first time... when you destroyed the crystal that kept me under that mad doctor's control..." While Terra was speaking, X had sat beside her, and instead of looking at her, he continued to gaze down at her box, looking at his own reflection in the mirror on the lid. When he saw a single tear fall into the box, he looked up at Terra and instinctively brushed his hand across her cheek.
"You don't have to thank me anyway. I wasn't trying to save you that first time, I was just trying to save the city... and today wasn't for you either, I was going after Sedaris and ended up freeing you."
More tears came down Terra's face, her mind still awash with guilt, fear, and regret. As she continued to cry, the thief produced a set of goggles and placed them inside the box, prompting Terra to stop crying and to look his way.
"Those were... where did you-"
"On the floor of the atrium, I picked them up on the way out... would've grabbed Raven's cloak too, but if you ask me, she really looks better without it. You, on the other hand... your eyes look a whole lot prettier when you're not wearing anything over them. So beautiful and blue... I've never met anyone with eyes like yours, not even Starfire."
Red X had steered the conversation away from the events of the evening... it was a respite that Terra needed, but she couldn't accept flattery, not when she still felt so terrible...
"How easy would it have been for me to just be a normal girl? Once I got out of that statue... instead of coming here, I could've just started a new life... gone to school like a normal girl... no one knowing about my powers, just..."
Terra sniffled and wiped away another tear, closing the box that she was holding and setting it down on the table beside her bed.
"I tried doing that... tried never putting on this costume again... for five months I managed to go without it. Then one day, the urge just came back, way too strong, and... well, week or so later and I'm right back here again at Titans Tower."
X leaned back onto Terra's bed, staring up at her ceiling and continuing to speak. She observed him with curiosity, finding a strange amount of wisdom in what the thief was saying... like Terra herself, Red X had struggled with his identity... whether he was good or bad, or even if he wanted to keep fighting.
"I mean, you could give it up if you want, but... that urge will always come back. You'll remember all the good times you had and you'll say... 'man, that fight was awesome', or 'those people sure are fun to be with'. Yeah, there's the bad stuff too... I still keep looking over my shoulder for Slade, I know he still wants me to be his apprentice and I know that if he ever comes after me again, he'll make my life a living hell. That scares me sometimes, but... then I trust in myself, and I realize that the only person who really controls my destiny is me. That's why I'd never join the Teen Titans... their destiny is controlled by wherever Cinderblock or Overload or Control Freak attack, but I just go wherever there's something good to steal. Whether or not the Titans show up... eh, it doesn't matter. They'll never catch me."
By now, Terra was lying down next to the thief, her head turned toward his so that she could hear him speak. With every word that he said, her sadness became less and less, until she had reached a point where she no longer felt guilty about what had happened... no longer felt the lingering fear that followed her after nearly being killed.
Once again, she gained comfort from Red X's words... and she found the strength within herself to go on.
"But anyway, what I'm saying is..." Red X got up from the bed and looked down at Terra, who had sat up and was still looking at the thief. "Just be yourself. If you feel like being a Titan, do that. If you feel like being normal, do that. If you feel like having freaky animal sex with Beast Boy, well then be my guest, I've had some pretty weird fantasies of my own, so-"
Terra began giggling, her fingers passing over her lips in an attempt to stifle her growing laughter. She stood up and took Red X's hand, holding it to the level of her waist and gently stroking her fingers across the surface of his glove.
"Thank you for everything, Sanza..."
"When I'm wearing the mask, it's Red X."
"I felt like calling you Sanza."
With a chuckle of his own, the thief turned and departed Terra's room. As he walked down the hallway, the sight of Terra smiling and the sound of her laughter continued to echo in his head... and the smile under his mask began to grow.
"Maybe I did mean to save her after all..."
The thief went down to the lower level and made his way back to the main room, passing Starfire in the hallway as he did so. When he caught sight of her, she was staring out the window at the Jump City skyline, obviously deep in thought. He briefly thought of stopping to talk to her, but thought differently and kept walking, not knowing that she'd heard him go past. She reached out and took him by the arm, pulling him toward the window.
"You are leaving? I... I have not thanked you for rescuing my friends... Raven and Terra are-"
"Are probably sleeping, and I need some rest too. But you're welcome, Starfire..."
"You say that you are a thief, and that you do not like playing the hero... but what you did-"
"Look, Starfire... no matter what I might do to help you guys, I'm still a thief and I'm going to keep right on stealing as soon as we beat Sedaris. Which brings me to another point... why do you guys always come after me? You say that you have to, because you're heroes, but... I don't hurt anyone. It's when you guys come to stop me that I start hurting people, namely all of you. You guys are coming after me, when you could be going after criminals who are actually dangerous... robbers, and rapists, and murderers... in the time it takes for you guys to fight me and for me to get away, there's someone in an alley somewhere getting shot, and the last thought going through his head is 'where are the Teen Titans? Why aren't the Teen Titans here to save me? What about the-'"
"The police handle those kind of criminals... but... you-"
"I steal from corporations, not from people. I'm no Robin Hood, but I'm certainly not going around robbing from people's houses. There's good, there's evil, I'm somewhere in-between, and there are people on the spectrum way closer to 'evil' than I am."
Red X's defensive words were a surprise to Starfire, who had never once heard the thief attempting to justify his actions... and she honestly didn't know how to respond. She knew how Robin would respond, but she wasn't sure if she agreed with him... especially knowing that there were people going around who were much more evil than Red X... people like Sedaris, people like Slade, whose only desire was to cause pain and misery to others. Red X's motives were all about having fun... but one thing about him still didn't sit right with Starfire, and she finally figured out how to respond to his comments.
"But... you do not care if you do hurt others," said Starfire, her eyes narrowing. "You are reckless and destructive, and though you may try to keep others from being hurt, you know for a fact that you take little effort to prevent harm to the people you do steal from!"
Starfire turned toward the window, her forehead leaning against the glass as a sadness came into her voice and she focused her attention away from Red X.
"That is why the Titans must always try to stop you... that is why I want you to stop being a thief..."
But by then, the thief had already disappeared... he'd walked out as soon as Starfire had turned her back, and was already out of sight. With a loud sigh, Starfire turned back toward the window.
"But no matter what you may say, to me or to yourself, I know the kind of person that you truly are..."
O-O-O
The sun had just begun to rise in a sky filled with pink, red, and orange, a sky that looked even more beautiful out in the bay, where a massive oil platform stood tall, its highest spire reaching nearly a third of a mile into the sky. On the deck of the platform stood Sedaris, gazing out across the bay at the skyline of the city that he was about to destroy.
The bunker had been merely a decoy, a decoy that bought Sedaris the time that his powerful drill needed to punch further down through the crust of the earth, down to the fault line below. A countdown to absolute destruction was quickly approaching finality, and once that terrifying moment arrived, it would let loose a disaster of epic proportions... a disaster that Sedaris had been waiting for.
Intensely focused, he barely noticed the helicopter soaring overhead, the sound of the blades and motor getting louder and louder as the chopper slowly descended onto the platform. A man emerged from the chopper and walked across the platform, completely ignored by Sedaris even as the man walked right up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"So, Alex... I suppose you're going to do whatever you want now that Dullahan is dead."
Sedaris recognized the man's voice immediately, not having to turn around to figure out who was speaking to him.
"Derek, I'm surprised you're here, and I'm starting to think that telling you everything was not such a good idea."
"Telling me about that Sanza kid nearly ridded us of him for good. I left a little pie on his doorstep... the witch that lived inside turned him into a hypno-zombie. His mom came home a bit sooner than I expected, but-"
"I don't need your help."
"...does this mean that you aren't working for me anymore?"
"Derek, I haven't been working for you since the moment you recommended me to Mr. Dullahan," said Sedaris, turning around and looking right into Voscoti's eyes. "Get out of California. I don't care what you do, but that's all the advice I'm going to give you, and it's the best you'll ever get."
Voscoti narrowed his eyes, obviously not happy at the cold shoulder that he was getting from the man who was once his best employee.
"You're not doing this for the money, are you?"
Sedaris said nothing... he folded his arms over his chest and continued to stare down Voscoti, obviously wanting nothing more to do with the security chief who gave him his first job in the private sector.
"...fine then, it's over. You don't want to work for me, fine. But I did try to help you... I'd like you to acknowledge that."
Sedaris continued to say nothing, and Voscoti finally got the message. He turned back toward the helicopter and climbed inside, gesturing for his pilot to get him into the air.
"Back to Baddalax, sir?"
"Take me to Vegas... I don't think I'm ever going back to Baddalax again."
As soon as the helicopter was in the air, Sedaris turned back toward the edge of the platform, watching as the sun continued to rise over Jump City... a city, Sedaris thought to himself, that was seeing its final dawn.
O-O-O
Sitting at the computer console in the main room of Titans Tower, Cyborg had been working feverishly to find out everything he could about the man named Alex Sedaris, bodyguard-turned-terrifying megalomaniac. He combed through the man's past, searching for anything about him that may lead the Titans to his current location... and what Cyborg found was quite fascinating, to say the least. With Robin and Raven at his side, Cyborg began piecing together Alex Sedaris' story.
"As a kid, this guy didn't sleep very much... he took a two-hour nap every few days, that's it. His parents didn't know how he managed to do it, it was a complete mystery to them, and the doctors couldn't explain it either, except that it probably had something to do with his body's rate of metabolism. He excelled in sports because of his strength, had a pretty good childhood, wasn't a discipline problem..."
"He wasn't orphaned at a young age," thought Robin, rubbing his chin with his finger. "Means he's not going to think very much like me..."
"Says here that when he was sixteen, both his parents died in a car wreck," said Cyborg, causing Robin to raise an eyebrow. "Though he seemed to take it pretty well... he wasn't happy about it, but he didn't cry at the funeral..."
"Maybe he was just trying to be tough," replied Raven.
"Everybody cries at their parents' funeral..." said Robin gravely. "It's not a matter of 'toughness'."
"His strength and his body's unique properties attracted the attention of the government... soon after his parents died, he was contacted by some... some obscure military group, I had to crack some highly classified files here, but anyway, he ended up as part of this weird genetic experimentation thing... they made him a super-soldier."
"Explains why he was able to beat Starfire so easily," said Raven, "and why he was able to survive everything Beast Boy and I threw at him."
"Did anything happen to him in the army?" asked Robin, wanting to know if there was a particular moment when Sedaris may have 'snapped'. "Any discipline problems there?"
"He wasn't in the army, Robin, he worked for a much smaller group... and he was given an honorable discharge in the summer of 2001. After that he went into the bodyguard business... and that leads us to now. I couldn't find anything in particular to explain why he would do any of this for any reason besides money..."
"And nothing about where he is now," said Raven, still staring up at the screen. "I should've let Beast Boy go after him... and should've gone with him. Now the city's in serious danger."
Robin turned away from Raven and Cyborg and began to think once again about what Red X had said... that Sedaris was going after more than just Jump City. He began to think about the bunker, which he knew now was an obvious decoy, and wondered what exactly the Titans had been lured away from.
"Whatever Sedaris is doing is obviously related to the other two plans... he wants to cause an earthquake, and if I can just figure out how, then I'd be able to find him..."
O-O-O
Rain was falling again, and the growing rumble of thunder could be heard, just as it had been two nights ago when Red X had visited Titans Tower and had ended up training with Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg for several hours.
Sanza could hear the rain through his window, and could see a flash of lightning from his bed as he sat with his legs dangling over the side, the soles of his feet brushing repeatedly against the carpet.
"Why do I keep going back there? Why am I drawn to them? It can't be just because of Starfire... even Robin and I seemed to be getting along well when we trained together... what is it about helping them that I find so... so satisfying? It's almost as fun to help them as it is to steal something!"
Sanza let out a scream of frustration, which his sister overheard from the hallway and came in to see what Sanza was doing.
"Sanza, did you hurt yourself?"
"Maddy, it's nothing that concerns you... I was just thinking about what I did last night."
Maddy sat down next to Sanza and rubbed her socked foot against his leg, her own left leg swinging back and forth at a fairly rapid pace. She blinked her eyes and smiled at him as he spoke, obviously remembering his promise to tell her everything that happened when he went out as Red X.
"I saved Raven and Terra's lives."
"You what? Oh wow, tell me!"
"I didn't mean to," said Sanza with a sigh. "They were sorta being held hostage by the bad guy, and I sorta threw one of my Xs at him at the very last second to keep them both from getting blown up."
"Oh wow..." said Maddy, her eyes wide. "That is so cool, did they give you a kiss? They both totally owe you a kiss, even Raven... I know she probably never gives kisses to anybody."
"Oh, they sure did. Raven even gave me a ten-second Frencher, it was awesome," said Sanza, his smile revealing his obvious lie. Maddy rolled her eyes at him, knowing that he was exaggerating his story quite a bit. "Would you believe that Terra gave me the Frencher?"
"I said I wanted to know what happened, I don't wanna know your icky masturbation fantasies." Maddy rolled her eyes again, while Sanza's eyes widened in shock. "Yeah, I said 'masturbation'. What do you expect, I go to an inner-city middle school."
"You know we'd both be going to Catholic school if mom hadn't been beaten so badly when she went there for twelve years."
"Yeah... I mean, I like public school and all, but... it really sucks that the nuns used to beat mommy so much... I'm sure Catholic school isn't like that now..."
"It's not, but she still didn't want us going," said Sanza. "At least the whole experience didn't turn her off to God entirely."
"Pssssh, I'm surprised you even mention God anymore, seeing how you break all His commandments on a regular basis. You steal all the time, you say 'goddamn it' every day, and you covet Robin's girlfriend every night in your dreams."
Sanza shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window again, watching as the rain continued to fall faster and faster. The mention of God had given Sanza an idea... he had a lot to think about, and he once again felt the need to seek a higher opinion... whether or not a quick prayer at the cathedral would tell him what he needed to know was something that Sanza couldn't quite be sure of, but he knew that he would feel a lot better if he went. He stood up and took an umbrella from the row of hooks inside his closet, then turned toward Maddy and gave her a smile.
"I'm gonna go pray," said Sanza.
"Praying for forgiveness, huh?" Maddy replied, a mischievous smile on her face. "You know you're gonna get soaked, right?"
"As long as I don't get hit by lightning, I'll be fine. Tell mom I'll be back in a while."
Sanza closed the door to his room, leaving his sister inside, still sitting on her bed. It took her a few seconds to realize the gravity of what her brother had done, but when she did, the smile on her face grew even larger.
"The fool left me in his room... I'm gonna try on his Red X suit!"
O-O-O
Sanza knelt at the altar of the Cathedral of St. Ignacius, still hearing the rumble of thunder and the pounding rain outside. The room was completely empty, with most of the priests working elsewhere in the building, leaving Sanza alone with his prayers and with his thoughts.
"God," whispered Sanza, his head bowed as he traced the Sign of the Cross on his chest, "You know who I am even better than I do... is it You making me feel so good when I do heroic things? Is it You that keeps protecting me from getting killed? Is it You that guided me to that room where Raven and Terra were last night? If it was, then... is it because You truly want me to be a hero?"
"If you want God to answer you, why don't I send you to talk to him yourself?"
Sanza opened his eyes and felt a cold wave of fear course through his body, just as a loud clap of thunder shook the cathedral. His prayers had been interrupted by Sedaris, who was standing right behind him.
"Lord, give me strength..."
O-O-O
Whether God will help Sanza or not remains to be seen, but it seems that God has lifted his hand of protection over my review column and has smote all the shippers! Raven and Terra are safe for now, but it looks like Sanza's in a heap of trouble... and is Maddy REALLY going to put on the Red X suit? Oh ho, with two more chapters remaining, expect the unexpected and prepare for the most spectacular finale in Teen Titans fanfiction history!