Robin sits back in a chair inside his lofty room. His gloved fingers are folded together in a studious fashion. He finishes reading what I have to 'say', and once the empty-aired gesturing is complete on my end.. ...he leans forward and murmurs in a serious breath:

"Well it certainly is strange.. ...if not alarming," he shifts a bit where he sits and stares at the floor. "... ... ...That was most certainly the real Red X. It certainly didn't act like a doppelganger. And as impulsive as Professor Chang proves himself to be, he wouldn't so easily mistake the wrong thief when Xenothium's involved. H.I.V.E. was after Red X for a reason. And they got them. And when we caught up with them.. ... ..." The team leader's voice lingers.

I shudder nervously where I stand. I glance aside with curious black eyes.

Cyborg and Raven stand side by side. Like suddenly stiff soldiers at permanent attention.

It strikes me as odd. Eerily odd. I suddenly feel very comfortable in here...

"You are certain that you heard a voice after you lifted Red X's helmet?" Robin's eyemask squints. "Even if there was no face beneath the mask?"

I slowly nod. I hand-sign.

He reads. Then says: "An electronic voice?"

"He's always spoken with that garbled sound," Cyborg points. "Ever since day one when he was trying to steal Xenothium all over town."

"Are you sure that is day one?" Raven remarks--

Robin clears his throat and glares at her.

She says nothing further.

I glance curiously between them all.

What's going on here...?

"Thank you for your report, Noir," Robin nods. "You may go about your business now."

I blink.

Um... ...

What just happened--?

"That is, you're excused, Noir..."

I glance again at the senior Titans.

Robin, Cyborg, Raven--they are all staring blankly at me. Waiting.

I wince.

Oh.

That's right.

'Nooby'.

I turn around, and graciously walk out of the Boy Wonder's abode.

Schwissh!

Half a second of naked silence.

Robn, Cyborg, and Raven stand. Almost drifting...

Schwisssh!

They're alone.

Immediately, Cyborg turns to Robin. "Well?"

Robin sighs. He slowly gets up. His feet shuffle his tyred body over towards the wide-stretching window and he gazes out onto the tinted world. He folds his arms behind his back. The myriad of cross-beams and balancing bridges stretched above him cast a mosaic of geometric shadows across the gloomy room.

Cyborg further shrugs: "No use in hidin' it, dude. We've talked about this sort of thing before. Didn't you once hypothesize it?"

"Yes... ...," Robin nods without looking back. ".. ...or maybe you did."

"Okay, so we both did. But Noir's not one to lie--right? He just told us he saw nothing under Red X's mask! And yet that suit was very much alive and kicking." Cyborg shuffles over. "Robin, man, there was never any thief stealin' the Red X tech to begin with! That explains how your vault was broken into, how the Tower's defenses were messed up, and how Red X seems so damn resilient to all kinds of mother effin' abuse!"

"All of these facts are coming together well," Robin shakes his head. "Almost too well.. ..." He turns and squints back at Cyborg through the corner of his eyemask. "What if there's something we havne't considered? Maybe Chang or Booker infused the electromagnetic signature of the wearer into the suit during the Xenothium-inhibited torture sessions or something--"

"Ockham's razor, dawg."

"Yeah, I know," Robin sighs and runs a hand through his spiked hair. "The suit has always exhibited an artificiality. Its quick, programmed precision. Its incessant, unquenchable thirst for the power of Xenothium to power itself up... ..." His lips linger. He turns and looks at Raven. ".. ...tell me again, Raven. Have you ever--even once--sensed anything fr--"

"And I tell you again, Robin," Raven drones. "It isn't that simple. Red X is as much a living thing to me as he is to you, Cyborg, Starfire--and the rest." She gently gesures with a hand. "My powers can't always determine the nature of every single foe we encounter. Besides..." She glares slightly. "Everytime I've gotten so much as near Red X, he's complicated the empathic process by ritualistically kicking my butts. Yours too."

"Right... ..No argument there."

"Ain't it obvious?" Cyborg shrugs, then points. "It's you, Robbie."

"... ... ..."

"He's you."

Robin takes a deep breath, hearing something he has already heard before. Or at least--something he has already assumed before.

Cyborg shuffles across the room, speaking: "The Red X suit that you and Chang constructed? It was too whacked out on Xenothium, man. You pumped that thing so much full of the red juice in your obsessive attempts to capture Slade that--not only couldn't you properly dispose of the dangerous material, but you sure as Hell couldn't get the Xenothium reactions inside of that thing to quiet down neither! All of your angst, all of your desperation, all of your fighting spirit, your training, yuor temper, your white-knuckled intensity in wanting to defeat Slade--it was all pumped into the very fabric of that Xenothium-soaked suit everytime you jacked into it, man. And with your nervous system so 'intimately' linked with the electro-synthesized functions of the machine, there's no WAY any of those badass emotions got filtered OUT of the transfer process! In the end, I think you just had yourself a baby, Robin. A hardcore, badass, Xenothium bastard of a baby."

Robin grits his teeth and clenches his fist--"Cyborg, must you be so.. ..."

"What, assholish?"

"I was going to say 'poetic', but sure," Robin sighs. "I admit that I have long wanted to deny this inevitability. But that's my first mis--" He pauses, winces, and groans: "--second mistake. I went into the 'Red X' project thinking I could bring Slade down. Instead.. ..." Robin shudders. ".. ...I seem to have brought an entirely new villain up."

"He even has your voice, dawg," Cyborg points. "Electronically garbled or not, you can't deny that."

Robin doesn't. He's silent. Unstirring.

Cyborg sighs. "Look, man. I ain't tryin' to come down on you. We all saw this coming. And Lord knows we've all learned to forgive and forget about a lot of things--especially the whole Red X thang. But we should have come to this conclusion about the Red X suit a long, long time ago. It shouldn't have come down to him being captured and tormented by the likes of this 'Neo H.I.V.E.' crap. And before you start on your 'responsible leadership' binge--it's not just your fault. We all could have done something to step out on the plate and tried to reason with this artificial life form."

"There is no reasoning with 'it'," Robin grunts. His features are hard. Rigidly stern as he speaks as much to himself as to the other two Titans present. "It's not just some 'ghost in a bottle' doppelganger of my own, transfused psyche. It's the ugly side of me. The parts of me that I've fought so long in training, heroism, and dedication to suppress. The part of me that doesn't listen to the rules, that doesn't care about the welfare or livelihood of others, that doesn't know what lines or boundaries to stop at." He sighs. ".. ...and it is a gray, gray line that both Red X and I tread. One that blurs the recognition between good and evil. Right and wrong."

"So you think that the difference between you and Red X is some sort of wyrdass 'good twin' / 'evil twin' thing?" Cyborg blinks. "That Red X would do nothing but bad things?"

"Hardly, Cyborg," Robin stares at him. "I meant that Red X simply doesn't care." He points at himself. "I care. And he doesn't. That's what makes him dangerous."

"Robin, you hold an infinite respect for what is just and what is virtuous," Raven speaks, forcing the two men to gaze her way. "It is not simply something you have been trained to recognize. But is something inherently true about you as a person." She gently nods her head. "And that... ...I can sense."

Robin takes a deep breath and nervously rubs the back of his neck. "I can only hope you're right, Raven.. ..."

A beat of silence...

"Well, look," Cyborg gestures. "So we know we're on the right track for once when it comes to Red X. And from what Noir said, he's back on the loose again. Only--after what Booker and Chang put him through, I can only imagine he's needing more Xenothium as a pick-me-up. So--with your permission of course, bird boy--I was gonna spend the day setting up this sensor transmission I had planned long ago to possibly catch Red X in the process of pilfering Xenothium samples. Now that I know I can rule out the presence of biological signatures, I might be able to get a proper reading of--say--seventy percent greater efficiency."

Robin lethargically waves him on. "You go and do that, Cyborg--"

"I mean, if he's part of you and you're part of him--Just what would you be up to right now? I mean, after having gone through the crap at Neo H.I.V.E. and--"

"How in the Hell would I know that?" Robin snaps. "Cyborg, just do what you do best and let science speak the volumes that need to be said."

Cyborg blinks. A sweatdrop. "Well, alright!" He clears his throat, swivels about, and marches out the room. "A-hunting science will go!"

Schwisssh!

"... ... ..."

Schwisssh!

"... .. ... ... .. ... ...," Robin turns and gazes across the room.

For Raven has not left. She stands there. Silently gazing at him.

"Something left for me to cringe at?" the team leader inquisitvely murmurs.

"I was hoping you would tell me," Raven drones.

"Raven, what more needs to be said?" Robin gestures. "The secret of Red X is out in the open now. And--I'm sure you can believe me--it was not a secret that even I totally knew about--"

"This doesn't concern Red X," Raven softly says. "It's about mroe than that." She gestures. "It's about what happened at Neo H.I.V.E."

"... ... ..."

"It's about what you saw down there. What it is you're not telling us."

"If it was worth knowing, I would have briefed it to the team," Robin says coldly.

"... ... ...Does Bard know?"

"No, Bard does not know," Robin grumbles. He points: "Raven, just go about your business. I've got--"

"What have you got, Robin? Research to do? Strategic battle planning?"

"As we speak, Mad Mod is threatening the City and we haven't even got a game plan to--"

"Do you seriously think you can concentrate on such things right now?"

"Not with you in here giving me a frickin' examination. Raven, since when did you turn counselor--?"

"And since when did you turn into such a hermit?" Raven speaks. A leaning of her head to the side: "Or more accurately, since when did you turn back into a hermit?"

"... ... ...," Robin gazes off.

Raven shuffles around to his side, speaking: "You have, haven't you? In the last few months... ... ...Ever since our big defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil. Ever since our allies joined and left us. You've been more silent. Brooding. Secretive. Robin...," Raven gently says: "...we may be ever so few in numbers, but we are still the Titans. We still stand for something good and just in this world. Never did I know that was true than the day you and the rest of us defeated my evil father and showed me--you, Robin--personally showed me just how much hope there was left in this world. That isn't a peace that comes out on its own fruition. That is a victory achieved by brave souls. Achieved through hard work, virtuous dedication, and an irrefutable fighting spirit. There is always.. ...always hope for this world, Robin. But there is very little chance in saving that hope... ... ..when we keep secrets and blind our path to one another."

Robin's answer is so immediate that it takes Raven by surprise: "What if the world doesn't want saving?"

Raven blinks. Her lips purse: "... ...what?"

Robin shakes his head. "I dunno. Maybe I'm confused."

"That's a cop-out."

"It's the truth," Robin turns and glares. "Raven, as much as I love lectures, I really need some time to think right now."

"Think or brood?"

"Pick one."

"Cute attitude," Raven walks back towards the door. "You keep making excuses to hide yourself away in these dark, depressing rooms, and you'll end up worse than me. You'll be like the Robin that unwittingly spawned the Red X in the first place."

"Tell me something I don't know."

Schwissh! "As much as I am amused by the idea of biting off your head in return, I think I will refrain," Raven drones. "I know you're a guy, Robin. And like most guys when things aren't going well with their teammates, they shut themselves off."

Robin groans. "This has absolutely NOTHING to do with Starfire and Static."

"Did I say it did?" Scwhissh!

Robin does a double-take, only to grace a solid, shut door. "... ... ..." He slumps back down in a chair. Limp. Gazing blankly into naked space...

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"To where are you presently going?" Starfire inquires.

Static hovers up on a metal disc at the edge of the Titan's Tower. He hoists a bag over his shoulder, glances back at Starfire, and smirks. "Home. I'm already late enough as it is. I'm lucky if my pop doesn't ground me for the next eon!"

Starfire leans her head innocently to the side, red hair blowing in the wind. "I do not understand. Are not your heroic endeavors worthy of your parental guardian's laud?"

"It's...," Static winces. "It's a c-complicated thing, Starfire. My family--They ain't all that informed about my whole 'superhero of Dakota City' thing. If they were, I probably wouldn't be allowed to go on about saving lives by myself or with y'all like I always do! I know they wouldn't understand them if I just flat-out told them, so.. ...heh.. ...it ain't something I'm all too particularly proud of, but--HEY--it's a living. Ya know?"

"So then, you are--"

"'Football camp'," Static winks. "It explains why I'm away for so many days in sumemr and also--eh heh heh..." He pats a bruise on his upper arm. ".. ...explains some of the scrapes I get, butting heads with evil."

"Hee hee hee. Most certainly so..."

"So, as the ritual goes, Starfire. Back to the ranch. Back to my--uhhh--alter ego! Haha! Yup, that's right. The secret one, of course. The one not even you and the Titans know--"

"Do you refer to 'Virgil Ovid Hawkins'?"

"DAH! Damn that Robin!" Static gnashes his teeth. "Awwwww man! You mean y'all even know the middle and last name too?"

"Tee hee hee."

"Dang it all... ...That's whack! I might as well plaster that on my friggin' forehead at this rate! Next thing you know, I'll be 'Virgil the Electrocutor'! I'd be just like Sidney Portier in "The Heat of the Night", only instead of slappin' that old white dude in the greenhouse, he'd be zappin' his nads off."

"Heehee," Starfire clutches her tummy, floating. "Ohhhhh Virgil. You are most certainly a humerous and warm-hearted friend."

Static blinks at that. He smiles nervously. "Eheh...Y-Yeah. A friend. Best Dakota-loaned-friend you'll ever find! Heh! Th-That'd be me!"

Starfire leans her head to the side. "Hmm? Is something amiss?"

"Oh, n-no," he scratches the back of his neck. "I just... ..uh... ...T-Thought.. ...St-Started to think, uh... ...That... ..M-Maybe that... ...erm..."

She stares at him innocently. Quietly blinking.

He bites his lip, then smiles a flashy smile. "N-Never mind! Ahem...Gotta go!" He gives a trademark salute and swivels about to fly off on his disc--

"Friend... ...," a gentle hand touches his shoulder.

He stops in mid-flight. He swivels about. "Star?"

She hovers up to him and smiles warmly. "Again, I would like to think you for all that you have done to ensure that not only would I be safe in my travelings--but that my journey to assist a poor Tamaranian soul would be successful. I am most certain that he would be as equally thankful to you as well, if only he were to be finally converted from his dismal imprisonment--which, X'hal willing, may be more of a reality now than it ever could have been previous. And that is entirely thanks to you."

"Don't mention it, Star," Static winks. "It's what we do for people we care for."

"Care...for?"

"Uhhh-Friends," he squeezes in. "Ya know?"

"Hehe...Indeed."

He salutes and finally flies off for real this time. "Maybe soon... ..You and I will actually get to rope him down for once! Who knows? Untill next time, Star!" He soars off.

Starfire remains hovering above the Tower. She waves, takes a deep breath, and smiles to herself.

".. ...until next time..."