Chapter 33

Titans Tower, Jump City. May 2nd, 2018. 3:13 AM.

"DON'T LET HER ESCAPE! CHASE THIS FAKER DOWN!"

Damian's voice was ragged and furious as he tore down the streets of Jump City on his X-cycle, with Raven, Jon, and Jaime flying overhead. About fifty feet ahead of him, flying down the road on a bike identical to his, was the false Red X. She had shown up just a few minutes ago during their patrol; Damian nearly choked on his water as she whipped past him, landing a solid drop-kick to Garfield's chest with her steel boot heel. He soared through the air, eyes wide with pain and shock, and landed on the trio of would-be robbers behind the electronics store on Fifth and Wolfman, before the fake Titan hit Tara and Kori with tranq-stars, leaving them three Titans short of their full team. And being the best tactician on the team to begin with, that put Damian in charge of the remaining four Titans, and he intended to catch this impostor tonight. No one was going to use his symbol for crime.

The pseudo-Titan took a hard right at the next intersection, barreling down the street between cars like it was child's play. Cursing to himself, Damian pressed a button on the left throttle, and the bike suddenly popped into the air with a quick jet burst, the bladed wheels swiveling to a horizontal position that propelled the motorbike into the air as a hidden jet engine built into the rear of the vehicle burst to life, sending the X-cycle and its rider blitzing after the other X. His other Titans quickly pulled into a triangular formation behind him.

"Jaime, see if you can close in and incapacitate that bike, but be careful! We don't want any civilians getting hurt! Raven, go with him to make sure nobody else gets hurt!"

"You got it, little man!" the Blue Beetle called out as he and Raven dove forward, approaching the false X from the sides.

"What are you and me gonna do?" Superboy asked, his voice just loud enough for Damian to hear over the sound of his bike's jet.

"The only way out of Jump City in this direction is over Haney Bridge! I need you to get me there now, then start running interference, slow her down as much as you can before she hits the bridge so she doesn't plow straight though my barricade!"

"Gotcha!" Jon shouted in reply before grabbing the X-cycle by the backseat. Damian cut the jet, and Jon brought them into a blue whirl over the streets to the edge of Haney's Bridge, where Damian continued to hover just off the ground.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Jon asked worriedly. "This could go south pretty fast if you're not careful."

"Don't worry, Jon, I've got everything under control. This faker is mine." Red X's brow furrowed as he launched a series of pylons out of the bike's sides, each one embedding itself upright into the asphalt of the bridge before activating it's forcefield, creating a wall of sparks over which Damian's bike hovered. "Now go, slow her down!"

Jon nodded before shooting off to start disrupting the false X's momentum. Meanwhile, Jaime and Raven fought their hardest to knock the imitation from her vehicle, but the rider was able to counter every swing Jaime threw, and keeping Raven distracted prevented the mage-girl from using her powers to simply pick the bike up off of the road. This kept up until Jon began firing his heat-vision at the faker, causing her to veer off to the side to avoid his attack while the four of time rapidly approached Haney Bridge, where Damian lie in wait. Jon was successful in causing the criminal to decelerate, his red eye-beams constantly coming close to slicing a wheel right off of the bike. At least, until the Fake Titan managed to lodge a Kryptonite X-star in Superboy's shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain and fall into a roll down Wolfman Street. Raven pulled back to check on him, and the false X managed to get a slice in across Beetle's chest, causing him to fall away as well. As she got close to the end of Wolfman Street, the faker spotted the original Red X glaring back at her. In response, the impostor engaged her own bike's aerial mode, pulling up just shy of Damian's force field enforce drifting down to eye level with him.

"There's nowhere else to run, Faker," Damian growled into the opaque eyes of the skull mask. "Give yourself up, so I don't have to break you."

"You speak with such confidence, Prince…" the false X hissed. "But I can see by the look in your eyes that you're pointing all your attention on me now. Your focus does you credit…"

Damian said nothing, but kept his eyes fixed on the false Titan, trying to pin down who she might be. She called him Prince, so that confirmed his theory that she was of the League. But she had skills that few even in the League had acquired. Only himself and a handful of others were as fine-tuned…

"Unfortunately, it is also a weakness I may exploit." The other X snapped her fingers, and a faint boom could be heard off in the distance. Damian looked up to follow the sound, and his eyes widened as he saw what must have been a helicopter coming down in a fireball towards the river. Squinting, the boy barely made out the distant shape of a person falling from the sky, presumably from said helicopter.

"Catch me, or save them…" the impostor whispered. "Your choice, 'hero'." With that, the fake X turned and flew off as Damian tore up into the sky, cursing himself for not expecting something as cheap and underhanded as this. As the Son of Batman pushed his vehicle as fast as it would go, he realized that he might not be able to reach the civilian soon enough to save them. So thinking quickly, Damian threw the X-cycle into full-auto thrust, and carefully perched on the seat of the bike as he sliced through the air towards the citizen. Just as she was about to pass him on her descent, Damian flipped a switch on the side of the bike, and the seat shot forward through the separating windshield, launching him forward like a slingshot just in time to grab the civilian as tight as he could.

"I've got you, ma'am. Everything is gonna be fine, just hold on as tight as you can." Damian shouted over the sound of the air blistering past their bodies before reaching up to his ear and calling out over his comlink. "Calling all Titans, this is Red X. I've got a civilian here, and we're dropping fast. I could use some air support. Since I can't fly… at all."

The woman screamed as they hurtled closer to the ground.

"… Now would be good."

As if on cue, his teammates sprang to action; Damian felt a powerful gust of wind push upward against them as Beetle beat vigorously at the air with his wings, and he saw the familiar shadow stretch out over the two of them as Raven pulled them upward with all her might. This slowed their descent enough to prevent a fatal injury upon impact, but they were still coming in fast enough that if they hit the ground now, one of them would never walk again. Damian turned the twos of them in the air so that he was set to break the woman's fall and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the impact…

His eyes popped back open, and he let out a sigh of relief with the breath he had unintentionally held in as he felt his back collide with something much softer: Superboy's chest. Jon threw his arms around the two of them as best he could and carried them carefully to the sidewalk below.

"It's alright now, miss." Jon's voice was soft and comforting as he gently hugged the trembling woman to help her calm down. "Was anyone else in the helicopter with you?"

"N-no, it was just me…" the poor lady couldn't help but whimper as the tears began streaming down her face. "Y-you, you saved m-muh-my life… thank you s-so much…"

"Everything is gonna be okay now, ma'am." Damian put a gentle hand on the weeping civilian's back. "Go home, take some time to rest. Tell your family you love them." Jon slowly walked the woman down the street, and Damian turned to see Jaime and Raven approaching him.

"Thanks for slowing us down, guys," Damian sighed with a smile. "If you hadn't been there, there's no way Jon and I could've–"

He was cut off by Raven's hand grabbing his collar and dragging him into the shadows. By now, Damian's body had grown used to the feeling of shadow-melding, so he didn't collapse when they emerged in Raven's bedroom.

"Wha? Raven, why did you bring me to–"

SLAP.

Cut off again, this time by Raven's hand whipping across his face. Now he actually did fall to the floor, rubbing his stinging cheek as he looked up at his fiancée who just stared back down at him, her eyes filled with panic and anger.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" The half-demon cried out as Damian slowly pulled himself back to his feet.

"What's gotten into you?" The young Wayne snipped back. "Did you seriously just hit me!?"

"Oh, did I seriously just do that?!" Raven shouted, her face turning red as she grabbed her boy by the shirt and shoved him onto her bed. "Did I just do something completely insane?! Well here's a better question: did you seriously just pull something like that without giving us a heads-up!?"

"Why are you freaking out about this?" Damian went to stand up off of the bed, but Raven just threw him back down into it. "It worked out fine. We saved that woman's life."

"Jaime and I barely got to you in time!" Raven's hands were swinging all around as she shouted. "Think about what could have happened to you. Think about what almost happened."

"It didn't happen."

"But it could've."

"But it didn't!"

"But it could've!" Raven glared at Damian as her shadow spread across the room. "Damian! What would the rest of us have done if something happened to you?!"

"You would keep moving forward," Damian grimaced, countering Raven's glare with a scowl. "That's what you do in our line of work. If someone goes down, you keep moving. You remember them, but you just keep moving."

"You know it's not that simple, Damian." Raven's ears burned as she felt her frustration rise to the surface, like a pot about to boil over. "Not between you and me."

"What did you expect me to do? Let that woman die?" Damian threw his hands up, exasperated. "That's not how we do things! We ALWAYS put the people first!"

"I expected you to think of something that wouldn't get you killed!" Raven's voice broke as she shot back at him. "I expected you to think about the rest of us! Alfred, your dad, your brothers, Jon, me!"

"I do this sort of thing of thing all the time!" Damian finally stood back up, not letting the girl push him back down. "What makes now any different!?" Raven grabbed the boy's shirt, jerking him in as close as she could.

"Because I already lost you once, and I CAN'T DO IT AGAIN!"

Damian froze.

Raven's breath was heavy as the weight of her words bore down on the both of them.

In the empty air that filled the silence of the room, Raven breath trembled in her chest. "Damian… I saw… you die…" the witch-girl placed a shaky hand on Damian's face. "I watch the light… fade from your eyes… I reached out, to listen to your mind… but you were gone. You were dead." Raven's lower lip quivered as she pressed herself to Damian's chest. "I… I can't… not again, I… I can't go through that again…"

Damian stood silent, mortified at what his Raven just told him. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her, and held her tight as she whimpered, her shadow lapping back around the room, drenching them in pitch black darkness.

"… Raven, I'm so sorry…" Damian whispered in the blackness. "… I didn't… I didn't realize…"

"Just promise me…" the girl replied weakly. "Promise me I won't lose you again…"

Damian just held the girl close, letting himself become lost in her presence as her shadow slowly shrank back to its original size beneath her feet.

"I promise…"