Hero Complex
8:05 AM.
A very faint buzzing sound rippled through the dimmed hallway, but the two security guards standing at either end of the corridor dismissed it at the florescent light finally giving out and squinted around at the ceiling. The lights had flickered a moment…or they must have because a faint darkness passed, like a shadow flitting close by. A loud 'bang!' echoed up one of the halls and the two guards exchanged looks. The female officer nodded and hefted her non-lethal security laser, moving to investigate the sound at the end of the far hall.
The male guard too left the premises, circling around to investigate from the opposite side, should the culprit come around. However, the real culprit in question had hoped for this.
Red X flickered back into existence, having just teleported from the far end of the hall where he'd kicked over a trashcan to get the guards' attention. He flicked open a small black-light penlight and shone it on the keypad to the inner safe. Where the neon glow felt across the keys he could clearly see the four digits used in the pass code: four, three, zero and seven. From his research into the security files of other company's who used similar systems, he knew it had to be a four digit code, no repeating numbers.
Now for the order.
He shoved a clever but highly black-ops devise into the card slot for new data and instead began loading all possible codes, bypassing the alarm protocol meant to go off if the code was entered incorrectly. It tricked the computer into thinking the person entering had as many guesses at they wanted. The door hissed open and the thief slipped inside and the airlock closed behind him, leaving him all alone inside the vault room. As he stepped onto the floor – now devoid of all security precautions – he felt a glimmer of satisfaction. Thieves too often made the mistake of trying to beat the system when having it work for you made things so much easier.
Whistling to himself once more, the thief crossed the room to a large glowing podium where the disk floated weightlessly in midair, waiting to be taken. He felt a sharp spike of satisfaction, having pulled off one of the fastest heists he'd ever had to scrape together in under twenty-four hours. Red X plucked it out of the air and examined it briefly. He frowned. Odd…what kind of devise was this? He hefted it. No…no way!
"This is a fake!" he hissed.
Then it all hit the fan.
The airlock door hissed open and a foursome of familiar teenagers walked, flew or glided in depended on preference. Red X didn't feel all too surprised, he'd pretty much expected the Goody-Goody Brigade to get here at some point, but the fact they had him pinned in the vault didn't make him feel very smart by many means. Their fearless leader stepped forward and thrust an accusatory finger at the obviously guilty thief, who felt a stab of irritation. Naturally they were here because naturally all this was Robin's fault because everything that went wrong in X's life was naturally to be blamed on Robin because that's how the world naturally worked.
"You're caught," he stated.
"Not yet," X quipped playfully.
"Titans GO!" Robin roared.
Raven and Starfire got there first; Raven leading the charge she tore several glowing black pieces of paneling from the walls. Red X took off running to meet them half way xinothium coursing through him, making him far bolder than healthy for a criminal facing two incoming Titans. Raven hurled the panels at him but they moved so slowly, so slowly in comparison to a hyper-active cat-burglar with a super-suit that the nimble criminal leaped over the first, bounced off the second and cart-wheeled through the air straight into the flying sorceress.
"Alley-oop!"
X leapfrogged a very pissed-off Raven, slapping a handful of red goo in her hair. She uttered bestial snarl, her fingers getting stuck in the mess the moment she tried to touch it, capturing her hands. Starfire squealed as Red X flew over Raven and landed squarely on the extraterrestrial's slender back.
"Whoops! Sorry, love!" X said cheerfully, obviously delighted to have an excuse to sit on the girl.
"Remove your weight from my person!" she cried, groping blindly over her shoulder, at the thief. "I cannot…You are throwing off my - Cease and desist!"
Red X ignored her protests, covering her eyes with his hands, shouting: "Peek-a-boo!"
"Ahh! I cannot maneuver safely if I cannot see!" she cried, swerving and diving dangerously as a drunken humming bird through the air. He hung on tightly, arms looping her shoulder as he laughed maniacally. He didn't stop laughing, even while she veered and swerved. "Remove your hands, despicable fiend! I will surely collide with – Ohh! X'hal!"
The redhead careened into the far will like a missile, Red only just barely tearing himself off her speeding form and dive rolling to safety. The stunned girl slumped to the floor, hazily mumbling something that sounded distinctly like 'zorkaberry'. One down, three to go, he thought, suddenly glad Cyborg had decided to skip town. Taking on the Titans in a giant warehouse with room to move was one thing; taking them on in close quarters en masse was entirely another deal.
"Get away from her!" a voice snarled and quite suddenly Red X was head butted mercilessly into a wall by a stampeding mountain goat.
"Gah!" he cried as he bashed into the wall and fell over.
Now, if he hadn't known that the Teen Titans had a shape-shifting changeling on the team, this might have come as a real shocker. Maybe a bit odd… As it was, getting run over by a goat was just an added hazard of having the Titans as enemies. Beast Goat snorted and pawed the floor, lowering that knobby – very knobby – head for another go at the bruised felon. Feeling very achy and not at all inclined to get the goat-version quarterback sack a second time, he spread his hand and slapped the palm against the floor, red light spitting from the point of contact.
Beast Boy wisely took to the air as a red streak shot from his hand and ripped the floor apart where the changeling stood. X hurled a couple experimental shuriken at the buzzing green humming bird but abandoned it as a lost cause. He spun around as Robin joined the fray, leaping at the unsuspecting X with a viscous left hook that the masked felon narrowly avoided, bobbing and weaving, feet flying across the floor as he danced back, retreating from the violent onslaught.
"How did you…get in here?" Robin snarled between punches. "Only one person…knows the code."
"Two," he laughed, side-stepping a well aimed kick to his forehead.
He ducked a sweeping roundhouse and grabbed Robin's foot and lunging back with it. They toppled together, Robin unable to keep footing with X's full weight yanking him down and X unable to stay standing with Robin's weight giving way. He hit the floor on his back and slid a couple feet before lunging up and hauling ass toward the open door. However his escape was foiled!
He skidded to stop short at the sight of a very angry Raven blocking his path to freedom. The moment's hesitation cost him his precious Robin-free moments and the irritated Boy Wonder was up again.
Whizz! Whizz! Zing! Projectile explosives if he ever heard them. X bounded away as several of Robin's energy disks exploded by his foot, jumping into the air, rebounding off the wall and – to his amusement – grabbing the passing seagull Beast Boy out of the air with a strangled 'wark!' He flipped through the air and landed on the podium, the large green bird clenched comically in his fist.
"Stupid bird," he said cheerfully, rattling the poor changeling like a maraca.
"Let him go, X!" Robin of course.
"Azarath! Metrion! Zinthos!" Raven…oh crap…
Raven's eyes flashed with dangerous white energy and whorls of power swirled up around her slender body, lashing out in tongues of sable fire, long and razor sharp. X released the seagull in a plume of green feather and swept his arm up. A crimson X sprang from his forearm just in time to spit sparks, his arm jarring as he managed a sloppy block. But the force of it smashed him up against the far wall the same time a hot trail of pain sliced up his flank. Completely winded and near-passing out from the mini detonation through his ribs, he slumped to the floor, gritting his teeth.
Raven's eyes widened at the sight of the damage she'd inflicted and for a moment she looked – almost – sorry. Comical really since she still had her fingers knotted in her own gooey hair. He barely dove away from Robin's lashing bow-staff, the long weapon striking sparks from the floor as the thief lurched to his feet, clutching his side. Hot liquid warmth spread under his fingers and X quickly forced his mind from the injury.
Raven tore her fingers finally free from her hair, looking more than willing to give him a matching wound for his left side.
"Ow," X said pointedly.
Raven's reply was charmingly nasty. "Suck it up, tough guy."
Robin smirked, whirling his staff into an 'I'm about to kick your ass' position and narrowing his masked eyes. Had he seen the wound? Probably not, it'd happened so damn fast…
"End of the line, X. You're going to pay for what you've done." Red X couldn't know for sure, but he thought that the Titan looked disappointed somehow. Maybe he'd wanted this to end without blood shed or catch him solo, either way the look vanished too fast for the thief to think much on it. "Now hand over the disks. No more running."
He couldn't resist. "Ease up, chuckles."
"No. Why are you doing this?" Robin snarled, lip curling in a wolfish expression.
X tilted his head and waved his hand loftily at the superhero. "I'll let you in on my awesome plans after I catch the bad guy."
"Newsflash. You are the bad guy."
"Then this is about getting back at the good guys, isn't it?"
"Cocky bastard."
"Goody-two shoes."
Raven broke in before this scathing conversation could get any farther. "Putting other criminals in jail won't buy you special privileges, you know."
X rolled his eyes at her. "Duh."
"Then why are you playing the hero? That's the second time so far," Robin said dryly.
"Rob." Red X balled his hand behind his back, air in his fingers beginning to glow, hum and solidify. "You need to take chill pill, seriously."
And he hurled a giant, flaming ball of xinothium energy at the Titans. Raven shielded them like X had hoped and he ran right at them red light gathering at his finger tips, pain making his movements slower, excruciating, but he'd just have to make due. The shield dropped just as X reappeared and he slammed his foot into Raven's head. She screamed and went down under him; skull banging against the floor as he fell on top of her, same as the alien.
Dizzy.
Red X swayed dangerously, clutching his head. I'm dizzy…I'm losing blood.
The suit been slit neatly open alone his right flank. Warm wetness spread down his side like an unpleasant second skin and the thief glowered at the remaining Titan standing between him and escape. Beast Boy lay moaning and human again on the floor by the podium, out of commission. Starfire: still unconscious and mumbling against the adjacent wall, elegant auburn hair obscuring her face. Raven lay beneath X's outspread hands and knees, thin arms at odd angles, thick, velveteen cowl pooled about his wrist.
Blood glistened in the folds.
His suit dripped the crimson liquid, dark blood splattered the floor by his knee with a loud, liquid, slapping sound on the cold metal flooring. Something solid and icy to the touch suddenly settled against his shoulder then shoved him up onto his knees. The world drained away as X smirked inappropriately into the blurry lines of Robin's dark face.
The Titan's bow-staff rested against his right collarbone, one good flick from Robin's expertly wielded weapon could snap the bone like a twig. But Robin…didn't take into consideration this one fact; a fact that gave the thief optimism to perhaps prevail despite even a broken collarbone – painful as that was – and get away.
X was left handed.
Then something cool, delicate and familiar caught his right wrist suddenly. Robin and Red X both froze as Raven abruptly took the thief's hand lightly between her own pale fingers. A flash flood: snapshots of a dusty basement, healing hands gently (and not so gently) cleansing the pain away; slipping the glove from his hand… He found himself staring, an audience in his own body as she did so once more.
He shivered again as the pads of her finger found his own, cold, not unpleasant prickles running down his spine. Her slim artisan fingers traced the lines of his index finger and thumb, sending a strange shivery jolt up his arm, making his skin prickle…that strange…almost enjoyable kiss of cool needles under the flesh and her digits found the thin, pink network of scars etched into the callused tips of his fingers.
Her lips moved. Dead stop. Time held its breath and then…
"Robin!" Beast Boy had recovered. Starfire shot over the thief's head and joined the Titan leader, Beast Boy appearing from thin air by his head, probably an insect of some sort. This creeped the burglar out for some inexplicable reason and he twitched. Blame it on the blood-loss, he thought dizzily to himself. And most of all blame it on Robin.
"Surrender!" Starfire said, hand glowing menacingly. "There is no escape! Do not make us harm you!"
Beast Boy bared unusually sharp incisors. "But we totally will, you freak-o!"
X snatched his glove away from the half-conscious sorceress and rolled off her, jamming his hand back into it. Her lips had formed the damning word, but nothing he could do about it now, not that his thickening senses could have devised a clever escape anyway. He backed by instinct, his vision slipping, one hand tight against the neat slit in his side. Heat, blood, his hips hit the podium behind him and he nearly collapsed against it.
"Give it up, X. You're about to pass out," stated Robin obviously. He held up a hand disarmingly. "I don't want to fight you like this."
X made a face. "Oh how 'effing noble of you."
Starfire began to throw a starbolt but the Boy Wonder shook his head warningly, obviously he didn't think Red X could withstand a solid starbolt hit in his condition. Lousy, righteous, good-for-nothing, hero complex… The thief held up a sable gloved arm and grinned jaggedly behind his grim reaper façade. His name-sake weapons unsheathed themselves from the catches under the battle suit, glittering red in the florescent lighting. Robin's eyes narrowed at the familiar armor configuration and spun his staff into a new stance.
He moved forward to engage the felon.
Come on Boy Wonder, X thought recklessly, blood-loss making him stupider by the minute. He could feel his IQ dropping. You want to dance around? Fine. He inclined his head, a quick 'come hither' jerk and the vigilante complied. Robin attacked again, this time keeping himself out of striking distance, the unforgiving metal of his weapon striking quick-silver fast.
X defected blow after blow, reaction times slowing with every strike. The metal spat angry sparks from his arm guards, Robin's attacks growing blurry and melting into one giant smear of movement. By pure luck he smacked the Titan's weapon aside and landed a hard spinning kick across his shoulder, throwing the boy to the floor. But tenacious as always, Robin leapt back to his feet with a hiss of pain and his bow-staff came around too fast for the dazed cat-burglar. The strike crashed into his shields and shot up his arms like a numbing agent as one of the guards shattered.
Ow. That hurt, the thief thought densely.
The bow-staff cracked against his forearm, circuits sputtering red sparks, drawing a short cry of pain from the thief. The sheer force of the hit knocked him into a wall; he rebounded off the surface and fell to a crouch, bracing himself with his good hand. He hugged his injured arm against his heaving chest, feeling the thrum of his heart against his sternum as Robin whirled his staff into the ready position. His breath came hard, his body aching as he narrowed his eyes at the similarly panting hero.
"You're beat, X," gasped Robin, a bead of sweat falling from his chin. "You're not trained like me and you're hurt. You can't win."
"Oh, so I can't fight, but I'm capable of murder," Red X said sarcastically. "Oooh, that's some excellent dot-to-dot sleuthing, that is."
"Robin? Please can we not -," Starfire began tentatively, but Robin ignored her.
"Who taught you to fight?" Robin demanded suddenly. "It's familiar."
X laughed, wincing as it sent stabs of pain through his side. "I'll bet it is. You see it every time I kick your ass," he said sniggering madly, following his naturally annoying instincts. Suddenly everything about this, the fake disk, the fight, Robin's stupid nobility, Raven with her hair in red clumps, riding Starfire like a bronco…it was all just hilarious. "Once I've cleared my good name, I'll give you free lessons or something, kiddo."
Robin rolled his eyes…or at least X thought so. Kinda hard to tell you know, but for a moment the Titan actually cracked the smallest of grins. But he bit it back, as if he just remembered that Red X wasn't supposed to be funny and got serious again.
"Don't lecture me on how to do my job, X. I've had enough of villains trying to do that."
"Uh huh. Slade got you too?"
He'd never been much good at subtlety.
Robin closed the distance between then in one, long, stride and slammed his knee into Red's diaphragm, dropping the thief to the floor and whacking the burglar a stunning blow to the back of the head. X's cheek struck the floor with enough force to knock the thief out of reality for a moment, unconsciousness spinning up to meet him before adrenaline pulled him out of it.
Robin's rabid scream in reply to the question went unheard over the ringing of the bells in his brain. Strange fluttering poker cards kept dancing in Red X's eyes as the Robin seized the front of X's suit and hurled him bodily against the wall, ramming him against the barrier and holding him there. His forearm crushed the felon's windpipe, his knuckles bruising the dip under his throat.
"What do you mean?" Robin bellowed.
"Robin! Dude! You're going to kill him!" Beast Boy yelped.
"He's injured!" Starfire cried.
The furious Titan ignored them.
"What do you mean 'you too?'"
"You know exactly what I mean," the thief whispered raggedly. The two teenagers were so close, their faces so near only Robin heard the second part of Red's message. "You know what he did to us both…"
Bam! X's boot introduced itself to the Teen Titan's belly.
Robin staggered back, clutching his bow-staff, doubled over himself in familiar agony. Red X didn't hesitate because he knew the price of letting Robin get his balance back and attacked, he darted forward faster than even Robin could have done, grabbed the Titan's head and threw the boy's face into his incoming knee. The sickening 'thunk!' of forehead meeting patella sent a shudder down the thief's spine and a momentary flash of bronze and black, Slade kicking him mercilessly in the head while he was down.
Starfire hurled a starbolt, but X was ready for this. He swung with his remaining arm guard and deflected it right the roaring Bengal tiger. It exploded in the unfortunate creature's face and a smoking – but human – Beast Boy flew out of the residual smoke, smacking the floor and rolling awkwardly for a couple yards.
"Beast Boy!" she cried, horrified.
"Get X!" chorused her two male teammates.
The Tameranian girl turned her attention back upon the bleeding thief, all former pretenses of sympathy for the wounded felon long since past. She raise glowing hands and began to attack, whipping starbolts fast as her alien hands could form them at X. He darted and dodged the first three and knocked the four back at her before evading the fifth and sixth. The fourth bolt shot back at the girl who swerved to avoid it, but had to duck again as a red xinothium blast zipped by her shoulder.
Her green eyes grew round.
Red X hefted a small, glowing baseball of crimson energy and hurled it at her roaring, "Fire in the hole!"
It shot up toward her but she ducked it and it sailed harmlessly over her. She turned her attention quickly back to X, should he thrown another. Unfortunately, she didn't expect that small red orb to explode…which it did. KABOOM! The blast of red light engulfed the girl with a deafening bang and the alien shot out of the smoke, rocketing toward the floor with punishing force…
But Red X had already begun to sprint toward her and he dove, sliding baseball style and catching her before she cracked her neck. Safe! he cheered silently, leaving a thick, smear of dark red on the well mopped floor behind him. Then he dumped her on the ground, good deed done, and shot another red grenade at the door. It blasted the airlock out of it frame, knocking the door into the hall as a twisted hunk of smoking metal. Raven had awoken, groaning and muttering her incantation to no affect. Concussion, X decided.
Robin growled, still on the ground some yards in front of the thief, recovering quickly through sheer spite. Red ripped the fake disk out of his belt and just to be as aggravating as possible chucked it at Robin's head as he ran by. It bounced off the back of his gel-styled noggin and X ran past him blowing a loud raspberry at the Titan.
"What are you doing?" Robin screamed. "You're insane!"
Beast Boy looked stunned. "Dude! What's his damage?"
"Ugh…finbar…" Poor Starfire.
-heist-
Author's Note: Umm…yes, our favorite thief went a bit over the edge toward the end of the fight, but blood loss does funny things to people like Red. Besides I thought it was kinda funny and the Titans did wound X pretty badly so you can't say that X got off easy. They had a bunch of killer hits, but Robin chose to be nice and not beat him senseless. Silly Titans.
