Disclaimer- I don't the Titan Teens. If I did, Red X would have made another appearance by now, Starfire and Robin or Starfire and Red X would be together, and Beast Boy and Raven would be together too.

Chapter 2: Slightly Expected Encounters

Starfire landed tiredly on the dirty docks of Jump City's slums discouraged. She had been searching for almost two hours with no results and she began to realize that finding an elusive criminal with a larger than average amount of brains who didn't want to be found proved to be harder than Starfire had originally thought it would be. She always figured that he would just appear right in front of her as she searched the nearly deserted streets and alleys of the over populated city.

She sat down on the old, nearly collapsed dock to ponder the situation from a different point of view. She put her elbow on her crossed legs and tilted her orange head in order to think. If I was a criminal, who I would never ever be, where would I go into hiding in order to not be found by anyone? She was about to give up, and go back to the Tower and Robin, but her conscience was fighting it. She was worried that she would not be able to sleep at night and her mind was ready to break down. Then a thought came to her and she stood up. She shot into the clear sky faster than Superman.

(That's possible you know, when you have something on your conscience that you need to clear.)

X

Speaking of clearing consciences, Red X was now staring out his half-cracked, yellow-tinted window from his bedroom thinking about Robin, the Boy Blunder, and his world famous crime-fighting career. X knew that the kid took it way too seriously (from recent first hand experience) but was wondering why he did. Could this be his way of making things simpler? Did the stupid fake line between good and evil make things simpler? Or at least about Knox anyway. Is this Bird Brain's way of getting her voice out of his head?

He wondered if the main reason that that idiot of a leader, Robin, was so hard on him was because the Titan's leader secretly had blamed him for what happened to his Knox. Instead of dealing with the painful blame, he put all the blame on the almost forgotten hero Red X, because it was easier for him. He put the blame on the other crime-fighter who also disappeared the night Knox left this world. He had blamed his other teammate that had left him that night. For the tragic end that met the once well-known crime fighter he blamed Red X so he would finally be able to sleep for the night. Not that he has any right to sleep a single minute after what he had done!

Red X had never thought of continuing his years of battling the so-called "bad guys" after Knox was murdered. After he saw that the line between good and evil wasn't so clear as it had seemed, when he saw there was a grey area, he never even thought of returning to his old life as a hypocritical protector of the law and "justice". He never considered the option of teaming up with the supposedly "good" heroes after that night. Chances are that Robin had not thought this through, he had always been the slow one, and he probably didn't see the gray area yet. He probably never even thought of the option Red had taken. But then, Robin didn't exactly have the same demons to deal with that he had had to wrestle with.

And of course the thought of the path he had chosen lead him to wondering. Soon he began to wonder if HE should have stayed a crime-fighting hero, even if some of the job was against his morals. If he was wrong to steal from the hard-working people of Jump City because of what happened to open his eyes. Why wouldn't it be, He said in an attempt to argue with himself, an eye for an eye! Even the Bible, supposed "Book of Goodness" said so! Although his slightly guilty and more than annoying conscience dared to entertain the thought that while the people of Jump City had taken an eye, he in return had decided to steal a leg from them, making it a little less fair than the Holy Bible allowed.

Screw it! He thought, turning away from the depressingly grimy window, his newly dyed sandy-blonde hair hung over his green-colored contacts in his eyes. Screw it all! Why should I bother anyway? It's not like I have anything better to do, anything more to live for anyway at this point! He rolled off his uncomfortable, cot-like bed and thumped on to the close rotting floor. Getting up and stomping out of the badly designed room like a two year old with a tantrum would, he realized his over-powering hunger. He was in dire need of some food. Comfort food. Unhealthy food. Now.

He marched into the corner of the biggest room of his apartment which held a pathetic excuse for a kitchen (to make up for its pathetic-ness the advertisement for the apartment had called it a "kitchenette" which literally means something along the lines of: "a crappy, small kitchen-like space that is normally in the corner of the largest room in a crappy apartment"). He savagely grabbed a bag of his favorite "Ruffles" sour-cream and onion potato chips off his ugly off-orange counter and fought the bag for its extremely valuable contents. He nearly ripped it in half, but received his salty, fattening prize anyway. He began shoveling the comfort food into his mouth and he for a moment pondered nothing but the wonderful taste of the food he had needed.

Suddenly and for reasons unknown to him, his thoughts turned to the alien, redheaded Titan again. He did not know why he bothered, not like she would ever spend a single moment of her precious time with even thoughts about me anyway. Not with that hypocrite Bird-Brained Boy feeding her all that "righteous" right and wrong crap. Like he never…His thoughts and scarffing was interrupted by a glimpse of a soaring blur of red hair outside of his partly shattered kitchenette window. Only one word came to his mind. Shit. He dropped the bag of oniony-goodess back onto the counter and a few chips fell on the unsafe, filthy orange instead of falling back safely in the clean green bag. Red X did not seem to notice the lost chips at that moment though. He was far too busy franticly running to his bedroom and searching in his messy, too-small closet for his outfit.

X

"Where did Starfire go, Raven?" Robin repeated for the third time. He was speaking in his steady yet impatient voice and at the same time solidly refusing to come into the Titan who is the daughter of demon's room. He stood his ground firmly right in the doorway into the darkly painted room. Raven was angered by this feeling that it somehow seemed as though he was proving that the finding of his favorite Titan was more important than the feelings of any of the others. This anger of course was not safe for anyone in the Tower and was going to need to be diverted quickly. And Raven knew exactly how.

"How would I know?" Raven said at her revenge and last resort answer, more than a little mad at Robin's coldness toward her. She felt that the need for revenge would slowly dissolve by making him worry over his precious Starfire was a prefect way. To put the seal on the envelope, she added, "She's your girlfriend." At this she raised her eyebrows and waited for the explosive result. Robin, being the predictable person he was, didn't let her down.

"SHE'S…. NOT…. MY…." The red-faced Robin started, having to pause after ever word because his rage (and his slight embarrassment) had become so great that merely breathing had become a challenge, not to mention yelling at the purple-haired member of his team. Smoke would have been coming out of his ears and nose if this had been a cartoon and any other member of the Titans would have begun to cower in complete terror as he screaming at her in rage. But the currently emotionally off balanced Raven, being the calm but slightly unwise person that she always was, interrupted him and his angry speech.

"Then stop acting like it!" She said back in a loud, slightly poisonous tone, showing she was more than less than happy about the behavior of Robin during their little encounter today. And with that her black-colored magic forced the door to slam in her leader's face. This action permanently ended the conversation was the cause that sent a fuming Robin to storm off to break the punching bag in the Titan training room for the seventh time this month. While Robin was mercilessly punching the poor, defenseless punching bag, Raven finally became calm enough to meditate. She had seemed to have transferred her emotions to her now vicious teammate for the moment and her worrying became less of an issue although Starfire was still on her mind as she floated. What is she doing?

X

Starfire landed more gracefully than one would think possible in the old, deserted streets of the four square blocks that had been proclaimed Jump City's "ghost town", her new adopted hometown. The thought that these boarded up and broken apartments and shops were once the center of the town, thriving and alive with many people, seemed impossible. What horrible incident happened here to cause such an emptiness to occur? It was rather odd. Jump City's mayor was notorious for tearing down everything and anything (including national landmarks and city parks) that wasn't making enough money. Why had theses four square blocks remanded untouched was beyond anyone. That is, anyone that wasn't in Jump City two years ago, when the horrible event happened.

"Lost, my little princess?" the more than familiar mechanical voice she had been searching for spoke. She turned around to face the masked criminal. Her hair went flying in the wind like the models Red X had watched in America's Next Top Model and it took him a few seconds to compose himself. He finally reminded himself that she was Titan and had to be careful. "Last time I checked, you didn't live in these parts and I know you didn't come for a social call." He then quickly bent into his normal fighting stance ready to strike his unexpected opponent if her beautiful emerald eyes, that were so much like Knox's, turned into the piercing, deadly lasers they so often did when he was around. He also avoided her eyes knowing they would cause him to once again and he would not be able to defend himself.

These rules are not fair, she has those eyes and that hair and that body, and I don't have anything in my favor! He frantically tried to figure out how he was going to get the upper hand, in the five second pause that settled over the two, both still sizing up the situation. Starfire was slightly taken aback by Red X's defense and had to gather she had to gather her thoughts on how to stop the Red X from attacking, of course she had never had had to deal with that, that had always been Robin's job, so she dealt with it the only way she knew how, naive and maybe a little annoying happiness that she prayed would spread and cause Red X to hold off his defense long enough to state her case and avoid fighting all together. (For telling her how to fight was also Robin's job and she would have no idea what attack to use.)

"Red X! Hello! Please do not attack me! I do not come to harm you! I have only come to discuss your saving me and the rest of the Titans when we were in the lab of the evil scientist!" Starfire was smiling and making it harder for Red X not to trust her. He moved from his defense stance into his more relaxed standing position, almost in a shocked and sort of embarrassed kind of way, but still slightly more relaxed. In this way he showed that he would listen to her words of their last encounter for the moment, without attacking. His voice echoed through the deserted streets. "What's there to talk about?"

At this statement Starfire's smile widen to its full extent, whether it was because of the normally cocky thief's embarrassment or the fact that she would finally have a chance to speak her mind to someone she was unsure. All the same, she became as relaxed as the thief had been, which was not much but enough to not have to worry about getting killed for the moment. She spoke to him as though he was Robin, fast and as clearly as she could, needing her conscience cleared as quick as possible.

"Red X, I respect you very much for saving us. On my planet, I would have absolved of all your crimes and still feel in your debt. You saved us and the city, and I was wondering if, maybe, you would be able to explain to me, why? Robin told me that those who break the law are bad and evil and care nothing for others. You, Red X, do care. Why are you not like the other criminals that Robin has described and I have fought?" At this, Red X smirked.

"As long as I am teaching you, let me tell you something princess, you still have a lot more to learn from this world we live in, and chances are, Robin won't be the one to teach you," He was completely relaxed now, sure that this was not a mission and Starfire was here because she was genuinely confused about why Robin as wrong about him. She probably thought that I would have let her die, oh God, Robin, what in the hell did you teach her! He smirked, she was taught not to trust him, there was no way someone so trained in the false belief that there was only good and evil would listen to a thief's advice. "I could show you and tell you, but I don't know, after all, I am just another villain! You might not be able to trust me…" At this a puzzled look came on the Tamerian's face as if she was trying to decipher her own thoughts and feelings.

"Red X, you are not "just another villain," as you stated, you have saved me and my friends, fighting with the leader of the team I am on. And I do not know why, but I do believe that I can trust anything you say to me. Red X, I believe that you are truly an honest person, although why you are a criminal is, how do you say, over my eyes as well." Red X looked into her eyes, searching for some falseness of what she had said. He could not find any.

"Well if that is the case, I have a story to tell you, princess, and probably not the kind you are used to." He turned his back and waved for her to follow. She did and they quickly became in step with each other. "We are going to one of my houses in the neighborhood. Oh, and I will tell you this, don't bother coming back with Robin and the others later, the building will be cleared out, can never be too careful when you are in my business."

"The business of crime?" She asked, showing, once again, how naïve and sheltered she was. Red X smirked at this. "No, princess, the business of revenge, but that is telling the story out of context, and I would hate to spoil the ending." He stopped in his tracks suddenly. "Do the other Titans know you are here?"

"I have told Raven of my search for you and she is to cover for me with the others." Starfire smiled at her smartness and ability to think ahead, but at this Red X just laughed and turned her body in the direction of the Tower. "Go home princess, your boyfriend Robin is probably ready to tear the town apart and I don't want to be found with you just yet. We will meet again; I'll come when the time is right. But you are going to need a little more time if you want to hear the story."

"But…" Starfire began, but Red X cut her off, "No buts princess, I promise, as long as you have patience, I will come soon enough, but for now you have to run to your little Robin Hood as you two go and save the day, then ride off into the sunset as happy as can be together." He approached her and whispered in her ear, "Go about as if everything is normal… I'll see you soon my princess!" And with that, he was gone.

"I will see you soon Red X, but Robin and I will not ride off into any sunset happy. We are just the friends and the teammates, Red X, I wish for you to know that," she shouted it to the empty streets, hoping he would hear, then flew back to the Tower she was faced toward so she would be able to face the now angry Robin which Red X had mentioned.

X

End of Chapter