Beast Boy told me that a while back Robin became the Red X, before that he was Slade's apprentice. Both times he did this with good intentions, but without telling the team. In both situations, the rest of the team thankfully found out, and the day was saved. But it leaves me wondering, what would have happened to him if nobody had found out he was Red X? But I know what happened because he didn't tell the Titans, their trust in him faltered.

: T : T : T : T :

A balding, grey-haired, white-coated scientist was sat at a workbench; he occasionally poked or prodded the robotic arm in front of him with a soldering iron. Every now and then he glanced at a computer screen to his right. Occasionally he muttered to himself. To look at him you would presume he was a scientist, glasses, messed up hair and a shirt and tie combo that didn't seem quite… right.

Another white-coat walked past him. "Hey, Simmons. Got that robotic arm working yet?"

"Hell no!" Answered 'Simmons', "I think I'm missing a bit."

"Best send it back to the retailer."

Simmons laughed. "Don't you have your own work to be getting on with?"

"It's home-time. You should check your watch once in a while."

Simmons looked at his watch and sighed. "Looks like another all-nighter."

The scientist laughed. "Goodnight Simmons."

"Goodnight."

The white-coat walked out of the room. Simmons leaned back, stretching his back. Nobody else was still working in the pristine white lab. A dozen identical work benches, and his was the only one occupied. He sighed again and went back to prodding his robotic arm.

"Another weekend working."

: T : T : T : T :

"Woohoo! Weekend holiday!"

Robin sighed. Rubbed a hand over his eye-mask. "Get off the table Beast Boy." Beast Boy clambered off the table and returned to sit between Starfire and Cyborg. "And the holiday is cancelled as soon as anything serious comes up."

"So really we just get a weekend off paperwork?" Cyborg asked.

Robin nodded.

"Aww man! That's no holiday." B.B. pouted.

"Yeah and he doesn't do his paperwork anyway!" I said.

"Nooby, I so do!"

"Yeah? Like when?"

"I… Uh… Like…"

"Exactly."

Robin interrupted the changeling's retort as he said. "Plus you don't have to train."

"Score!" said Beast Boy.

"…" said Robin.

"Get off the table, right?"

"And stop dancing."

: T : T : T : T :

Sometime later. In the Main Room.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Raven spoke monotonously, without looking up from her book, which she seemed to have to read like Beast Boy had to eat. A lot.

Robin replied as he sat across the table from her. "Me and you can deal with anything minor, right?"

"Of course."

"Then what could go wrong?"

"Something major."

: T : T : T : T :

Brother Blood walked down the yellow corridors of the H.I.V.E. base. As usual, after the Titans repeated break-ins of previous bases, cameras followed his progress. This in itself was not suspicious, but Brother Blood knew that only one of the cameras of each corridor needed to follow him to fulfil the security requirements. Most of them followed him, and he knew that this was Murphy's doing.

Gizmo scuttled alongside him, in his usual green with controller on the front and mechanical pack on his back.

"They're watching you, boss."

"I am well aware of that, Gizmo." Said the cyborg and as Gizmo broke into a series of childish swearing he added. "Be quiet."

After a few more turns down the H.I.V.E. corridors and dozens more cameras the duo came to the headmaster's office. Brother Blood put his hand to a panel, which scanned his electrical signal, and the door slid open.

Gizmo ran as fast as his legs cold carry him, to the one camera in the room, which was on the wall beside the door, and plugged a memory device into a socket. Of course, he still had his camera hidden in the room, which could be used for blackmail later.

He pushed a button on the memory device, and a pre-recorded conversation, between Blood and Gizmo, played on whatever screen the camera was connected to. Gizmo then proceeded to sweep the room for listening bugs, other than his own, and finding one, he destroyed it.

"Now we know there is no chance of being eavesdropped on, how is your… assigned project going?" Said Brother Blood.

Gizmo blushed and eventually replied. "Hate to say it boss, but shweeze what you're asking for, when you're asking for it… My intellect alone just ain't enough. Maybe if I had some fly-sucking assistant, but its impossible by myself."

"Assistant? No. Partner? Perhaps." He pressed a button on his desk and a small screen rose silently out of the wood. He pushed some buttons that rose on a keyboard with the screen and a few seconds later, the mask of the Ravager appeared on screen.

"Oh not that skuzzball. He's not a scientist, he's a jobber!"

"I am well aware of that Gizmo. Now be quiet." Blood's human eye and both Gizmo's eyes took on a brief shade of red and his mouth closed suddenly. "Ravager, I have a job for you. The details will be sent to you shortly, along with money. One of my students will also be with you for experience and to ensure everything runs smoothly."

The Ravager nodded. "I will not fail."

"You had better not." Ravager's eyes narrowed, seconds before the comm. link between them broke off. Brother Blood turned to Gizmo. "Fetch Gemini."

: T : T : T : T :

Beast Boy and I strolled through the city park, enjoying the sunshine before nightfall. The changeling beside me was on the look-out for girls and was basically giving me a running commentary on everything that was happening. "Dude, I love Saturdays! Look at all the chicks! Hey, I reckon that one's giving me the eye, what do you reckon, Void?" Amazed that he had called me by my actual alias I was speechless, B.B. didn't seem to notice. He also didn't notice that the girl in question was staring, but seemed more interested in the fact that between us were green and wearing a full-body, skin-tight… thing. "Yup, I'm a babe-magnet aren't I?"

Half of me wished that I had accepted Star's offer to go to the mall, or Cyborg's offer to do some work on the T-car. But I was fairly useless at both of those activities. So there I was as B.B. decided to give me his 'great' tips on how to seduce the ladies.

"First, you gotta be cute. Now, as you can see, I've got number one down! As for you… well… with the mask and all… its hard to tell. Aaaaaanyway, the rules! Rule no. 3-"

"What happened to rule 2?"

"What?"

"You skipped no. 2 out."

"No need to be pedantic! Fine… Rule no." He gave me a look. "2. Smooth talking! Now as I bet you can tell, I am as smooth as an oiled up seal." He turned into a seal, to prove his point, and then changed back. "ARF! Ahem. I mean metaphorically of course."

"Of course."

"Now rule no. 3!" I phased out. Maybe I should have gone to the mall with Starfire. Or offered to help Robin and Raven do the protection of the city with them. Better than whatever Beast Boy was talking about. I listened for a couple of seconds. "The Freeze tongue is one of my greatest-" I phased out immediately.

My mind wandered for a while. Just as my mind drifted onto the subject of S.T.A.R. labs Beast Boy abruptly stopped talking about whatever needed such throwing gestures. I had no idea what caused it but he suddenly seemed pensive.

I wracked my brains, trying to think of what he was talking about before he so suddenly stopped. Something about a fair? A coconut stall. And then he said the best place for romantic moments was at the top of a big wheel before he trailed off.

Strange.

: T : T : T : T :

Back at the Tower, in the garage Cyborg was cheerfully shining the T-Car, whistling.

Raven was in the Main Room, reading some book about vampires… or vampyrs.

Robin was in the gym, training. Kicking the hell out of a punchbag.

At the mall, Starfire was shopping, already she had 2 bags full of pink things.

Everybody was doing what they enjoyed. Well, I presume Robin enjoyed training.

: T : T : T : T :

A security camera whirred as it turned on it's fulcrum, surveying the entire parking lot. There were very few cars left, and the only thing that could be made out beyond the chain linked fence was a sign with 'S.T.A.R Labs Parking Only' written on it. From behind a car, there almost seemed to be a blur of movement, before the camera displayed only static.

The Ravager jogged forward, pulling the knife which had severed the cameras cables out of the wall. He quickly taped the severed cables together and the camera started filming the view of the car park again.

In the security booth, the security guard stopped bashing the television which had been showing static, as it began functioning normally again.

Back outside, the Ravager headed towards the entrance. As he reached the big metal door he moved towards the scanner for key cards. With a bit of work he managed to remove the plastic casing and studied the electronics for a second. He pulled two wires out and rubbed the metal ends together for a second. The door slid open. He replaced the wires and the casing and headed inside.

Once he was there he avoided the badly placed camera and tore a grate off the wall. He crawled inside the vent and pulled the grate back on after him.

He pulled a small device out of his pocket and started to follow the map on the screen.

: T : T : T : T :

Simmons beavered away at his desktop computer, typing at the speed of light. Numbers and letters appeared on the screen in their dozens before disappearing almost immediately off the top of the screen.

Simmons paused. "Well that makes sense, this capacitor seems to be missing." His finger moved to the print button.

The screen turned off, the lights went out and the robotic hand drooped. From the window, the moonlight reflected off every shiny surface. Simmons swore.

: T : T : T : T :

On the basement level, a fuse dropped to the floor in the gloom. The Ravager walked over to stand behind the door, he pulled out a pistol and loaded it.

A minute passed.

Just as the Ravager was about to move a beam of light from a torch was shone down the stairs. He raised the pistol.

Carefully, the security guard walked down the steps, shining the light at each step in turn. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he walked to the fuse-box, opposite the doorway.

PFFT!

His hand flew to his neck, and he dropped to the floor. The torch fell after him.

SMASH!

The light was extinguished.

The Ravager smiled and made his way up the basement steps.

: T : T : T : T :

Simmons had a small torch out and was just about to insert a small cylinder into the robotic arm. He felt a cold piece of metal touch his throat.

He gulped.

The Ravager stood with his sword across the scientist's throat. "Professor Simmons?"

"Mmm hmm?" With his eyes wide, Simmons looked almost like a rabbit caught in headlights.

"Get up, Professor."

: T : T : T : T :

The security guard lay in the basement, but groggily returned to consciousness. His hand, still at his neck, reached for the dart which contained the fluid which had knocked him out. He pulled the dart out of his neck and untangled it from the material of his collar. The material was slightly damp, as the dart had failed to enter his neck properly, and had instead spent much of it's payload into his collar.

He tugged a radio out of his pocket and started shouting at the person on the other end.

: T : T : T : T :

Raven looked up from her reading. Robin was pacing the room muttering to himself. She watched him for a few laps around the room.

"You're actually counting on something big happening this weekend, aren't you?" She said.

Robin stopped, looked at the dark sorceress and gave the merest hint of a smile before he replied. "Why would I want something like that to happen?"

"Well lets look at the facts: Brother Blood has just escaped from prison," Robin nodded, "You are working yourself into the ground trying to figure out why," Robin looked at the journey around the room he had been making, and nodded, "and you give the entire team a couple of days off? That doesn't really make sense."

"It doesn't need to make sense to you."

"Oh, I didn't say it didn't make sense to me. I meant to the others. I know exactly why you're doing this."

"Do you now?"

WRIIIIIIIIII!

The Boy Wonder grinned as the Titan alarm went off. The duo jogged towards the lift.

Raven looked at the smile for a second then said, "I want you to know something." Robin looked back at her. "I'm not going to get myself beaten up for some lesson that you're trying to teach the others."

: T : T : T : T :

The Ravager picked up Simmons by the scruff of his neck and started to drag him towards the elevator. Just as he was about to move too far from the robotic arm, Simmons reached full length and picked up his work.

He reached the door and placed Simmons on the floor. The scientist, not a particularly short man, had to look up to see the Ravager's face.

He piped up. "Y-you do know… the elevator won't w-work. The electricity's off." He cringed away from the blow he expected.

The Ravager just smiled. "I know." He stabbed his sword into the doors and prised them apart. He unclipped something from his belt, something with wheels on and clipped it to the wire descending into the darkness of the lift chute. He picked Simmons up by his waist and clipped his belt onto the device and dropped the professor.

He hung there, in the darkness, scared out of his life. "C-C-Couldn't we just t-take the st-stairs?"

"Too slow." But just as he reached for the device on the wire the sword on his back was covered in darkness.

The Ravager frowned when he couldn't move forward, he looked back. He saw his sword covered in black. One of the eye-holes grew bigger as he raised an eyebrow.

He flew backwards, dragged by his sword, his metal-laced heels raising sparks on the floor.

SCRRRRR-WHAM!

He collided with a wall.

Raven stood, eyes glowing grey, palm outstretched. "You again." She droned monotonously. Her hand went into a grip and her arm flew upwards. His eyes widened in surprise as his sword flew from its scabbard and shot into the wall next to the lift.

His eyes narrowed as he stood. "I don't need that…" He ran leapt forwards, bringing his foot in the direction of Raven's head.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flying object.

BOOM!

The explosive connected with his side and sent him to the floor where he slid into a desk.

Robin walked forward, just out of reach if the villain chose to attack. "So you're the Ravager? You may have managed to outwit Cyborg and Void, but you'll have a harder job with us." He pulled out his retractable bo-staff, extending it.

"We'll see." He leapt to his feet and ran at the Boy Wonder.

CRACK!

Robin caught a kick with his staff, span it and brought it crashing towards the villains head.

Ravager bent backwards to dodge, his arms reached over his head and he bridged his back.

Robin lashed out with a foot, knocking his opponents legs out, which brought him to the floor on his back. The Boy Wonder leapt into the air, trying to hit a knockout blow on the floored villain, but the Ravager rolled out of the way, and with a spin took out Robin's legs.

The Ravager continued his spin, bringing him back to his feet. Robin brought his feet up and flipped himself back to standing.

The two opponents just stood for a second, staring each other down.

In the seconds of silence, Simmons spoke up. "Ex-Excuse m-me, sorry to interrupt, but T-Titans, don't suppose you could-"

CRUNCH!

A telekinetically flung computer collided with the Ravager's face and he was sent flying across the room, hitting the wall hard. He looked up and saw his sword. He reached up, pulled himself to his feet then slid it from the wall.

A black-encased computer screen flew towards him.

SLASH!

He cut it in half and the two pieces collided with the wall behind him.

He pulled out an explosives trigger from his belt. "Hey, Robin! I think I just outwitted you."

Robin looked to where the Ravager had been leaning against a desk, he caught the briefest of glances of an explosive before-

BOOOM!

Raven and Robin were sent flying into desks, crashing through them to the floor.

In the aftermath of the explosion the Ravager leapt into the lift shaft, holding on to the device and pushing a button, he and Professor Simmons dropped into the darkness.

ZZZZZIIIPPPPPP!

"AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" echoed back up the shaft.

To be continued…