Dark Titans – Arc 1 – Red XX?

Chapter Two

Enjoy if you will, Tolerate if you won't.

Robin cleared the fifteen foot gap between the two towering buildings without even breaking stride. He allowed a smile borne of pride to form on his lips at that. Even a week earlier, he wouldn't have attempted such a jump without using his grappling hook. But he had learned early on that his grappling hook slowed him down too much when hunting this criminal.

Happosai's tiny frame was still bouncing around madly before him, the old master cackling loudly in amusement. The ancient pervert leapt into the air once more, before suddenly whipping out his pipe and using it to swing around a nearby antenna. Instantly the old man shot off at a ninety-degree angle, physics be damned, and almost seemed to fly to the next rooftop beside them.

The Boy Wonder skidded to a stop as best as he could, digging the ever present birdarang into the rough surface of the roof to slow him down. He had taken to constantly carrying a birdarang in each hand, often for his entire chases, just because of things like this. To his credit, he didn't completely wipe out, but it took him several agonizing seconds to recover enough to give chase again.

His heavy steel-toed boots hit the roof with a thunderous racket as he tore off after the old man. The next building was two stories higher, as well as fifteen feet away, he wouldn't be able to jump this one . . . not yet anyway. He whipped his right birdarang at the old man, just as he vanished over the ledge of the buildings roof. He certainly hoped he had anticipated the pervert's movements enough to give him a second's pause. A second later, his grappling hook was out and he was flying up to the next roof as well.

He flipped over the edge of the building, just in time to see Happosai leaping off of the building already. Even as he ran after the old man, he threw his left boomerang as hard as he could, forcing the old man to dodge. At the same time, he aimed his grappling hook and fired again, aiming for where he had forced the old man to evade. The gleaming blade of his favored accessory flew through the air with lethal grace, careening unerringly for the withered master.

Only to be deflected by that thrice damned pipe! Happosai then flashed the pipe out again, tangling it into the hooks trailing cord and pulling with impossible strength. Robin found himself flying forward, only to land painfully on his face and skid several very uncomfortable feet until he stopped. He grimaced slightly, before he pushed himself to his feet and began running once more. Kasumi was going to have a fit when she saw the scrapes that were likely oozing blood all over his chin now.

Note to self, don't try that again.

Thankfully, the next building was a story shorter than the building he was on. Without even pausing to worry about it, he leapt again and flew nimbly through the air over the alley. He landed from the jump with a crunch and quickly rolled to sublimate the shock of the fall. For the dozenth time that night, he came up running again, just catching a glimpse of the old man ahead of him.

It was true that he was having a much easier time of hunting the old man than he had a week earlier, but the sad fact was that he was going to lose him soon at this rate. That last boneheaded maneuver had cost him four and a half seconds that he just knew he wasn't going to get back tonight. Usually Happosai let him catch up after an hour or two of chasing and they'd fight it out a bit; then go their separate ways. But it had been at least two nights since Happi had got himself any of his precious "treasures"; it seemed likely the ancient master was just going to ditch him tonight if he couldn't keep up.

With that thought, the leader of the Teen Titans pushed his aching legs as hard as he could. He could literally feel the burn as he flew from roof to roof; hardly even paying attention to the bouncing speck that always seemed to be just one rooftop out of reach. All that mattered was keeping one foot in front of the other, getting every inch from each step, stealing every ounce of momentum from each swing of his arms.

Thus, he was pretty darn surprised, when he nearly landed on the old coot after leaping, nearly blindly, from that last building! As it was, he just managed to hop step over the, thankfully short, old man and make a rather embarrassing show of regaining his balance before he skidded to a stop and spun to face the martial artist.

"What on Earth are you doing? You wanna give a guy some warning the next time you pull up short like that?" he barked in annoyance. Heck, the old man wasn't even paying attention to him. Suddenly Robin's senses kicked into overdrive and a sense of "really bad" settled over him like a thick wool blanket. Happosai was standing before him, but the ancient master was staring past him, past him and above him actually.

Slowly, the masked boy turned and slid his gaze around to follow Happosai's curious stare. About ten feet behind the Boy Wonder, was a small structure on the roof, likely the roof entrance to the buildings staircase. There was nothing interesting there, so he allowed his gaze to crawl up the small structure, to the top of the wall. There . . .

His eyes widened in shock!

There, standing nonchalantly atop the wall, wearing the familiar black and red outfit, complete with short cape and skull mask . . .

Was Red X!

And . . . and whoever it was . . .

Damn, that suit looked good on her!

Happosai stared up at the lithe, trim, toned, taut . . . ummm, where was he again? Right! He stared up at the spandex wearing figure that blocked his path. The person, obviously female (the outfit hugged her generous curves, oh so perfectly.) stood confidently on the roof's entrance to the stairs, one hand resting alluringly on a perfectly rounded hip. Admittedly, the suit was a bit stark, and just a tad too grim for his tastes.

A skull face motif? Really, someone was trying far too hard to look evil. The dramatic slashes of red weren't too bad, but didn't mean too much to him. The cape actually worked though, adding a touch of mystery, as well as accentuating and concealing at the same time.

The fact that Robin was standing about five feet in front of him, a shocked expression on his face . . . meh, he'd just found a much more interesting playmate.

It was then, that the masked figure spoke.

"Well, Grandpa, are you just going to stare all night? Or are you looking for some excitement?" Her voice came out in an unearthly, distorted tone, obviously to hide the true voice of the suit's owner. The girl then waved him in teasingly, before turning and leaping to the building behind her.

A chase? Oh ho! It had been a long, long time indeed since he'd chased someone else. And whoever this girl was, she was in the mood to play. A second later, and ancient muscles burned to life, launching him into the air after the lovely figure of the costumed thrill seeker.

"Red X! Stop right there!" Robin's guttural yell from behind him was easily ignored, by both him and his new playmate. He could easily feel the young boy's chi though, as the youth gave chase immediately.

Ahead of him, the person that Robin deemed, Red X, leapt gracefully from roof to roof. The girl bounced off of an air conditioning unit; somersaulted over a large boxy air vent before swinging merrily from a microwave tower. Her acrobatic movements left her sailing through the night's sky, her short cape fluttering like a leaf in the wind as she soared above the city. Soon she touched down once more, before lighting off across another rooftop and jumping another alley.

The ancient master didn't have any trouble following the nimble girl. She might have been extremely agile and quick, but not so much as the boy following the both of them at that very moment. Still, he'd play along a bit longer; it wasn't like anyone in this town could keep up with him if he actually cut loose.

A few quick hops, from rooftop, to ledge, to satellite dish, and he was on the same roof as his intriguing new friend. Another, rather unimpressive leap, took him high into the air above the girl. He pulled out his pipe as he descended, maybe a little trip would do the girl some good. Just as he was about to land the strike -

The girl spun, mid leap, and aimed both of her palms up at him. Suddenly, a pair of red X's shot out from her hands directly at him! One was aimed slightly higher, the other slightly lower, trying to limit his chances to dodge.

So, this girl had some tricks up her sleeves. He smiled happily, maybe this would be fun after all. The ancient master spun quickly, and angled his shrunken body so that he would pass between the small, red projecti-

Every muscle in his body spasmed instantly, as a crimson bolt of energy suddenly arced between the two symbols, just as he passed between them. He shook uncontrollably, hanging in the air between the two weapons, the energy seeming to hold him aloft. He saw, but didn't feel, his pipe drop from nerveless fingers and could smell the subtle smell of something cooking.

A second later, he dropped to the hard surface of the roof, smoking without the aid of his beloved pipe.

Before him, the girl stared at her black clad hands, apparently in awe of what she had just done. Even through the mask, he could almost see a wicked smile forming on her face. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet and shook out his tensed muscles. He smiled himself, running his hands through his hair to smooth out the frazzled mess.

"A good trick, girl. Not many people use such clever tactics, certainly no one that I've fought lately," he praised her lightly. "Of course, I have a few tricks myself. Perhaps you'd like to see a few?"

His new friend looked about to reply, leaning back into a simple fighting stance – when suddenly she dove to the side, just avoiding the Bo staff which smashed into the ground where she had been a moment earlier. He raised an eyebrow as Robin's figure dropped to the ground between him and the girl; that attack had been rather vicious, caving in a small section of the roof.

Instantly, the Boy Wonder tore his weapon out of the roof, sending small shards of debris flying, and spun to face the black clad female.

"You give that suit back now!" roared the young hero. Happosai's other eyebrow raised at that. Robin's voice was filled with an anger that the vigilante hadn't demonstrated during the entire time that he had known the boy. Perhaps there was some history between these two, a jilted lover maybe? Oh, wouldn't that be delicious?

Rather than comply, Red X rested a hand on her hip, while shooing the Teen Titan away with a wave of her other hand. "Excuse me, Robin, but the adults are trying to talk now. You better run home and get cleaned up, you look a mess."

The synthesized voice sent Robin even further over the edge. The boy's face suddenly burned red and he flew toward her, his staff trailing dangerously. The ancient master considered the situation for a moment . . . then shrugged and hopped onto a nearby ledge to take a seat. Luckily, he had a few snacks for the night's trip, so he pulled a candy bar out of his pocket and started to unwrap it.

This certainly looked like it would be fun!

An instant later, Robin was on his opponent, his weapon spinning with the force of a typhoon. Red X just narrowly dodged out of the way, avoiding losing her head by a matter of inches. The swing was followed by a flashing kick, then a spinning backhand which trailed the staff only seconds behind it. Each attack cracked the air loudly as Robin nearly blurred into a raging combination of attacks, intent on taking the girl down.

It was all that she could do, nearly flailing around in panic, to avoid the flashing strikes. It was obvious to Happosai, that the girl was woefully outclassed in hand-to-hand combat. If she was to have any hope here, she'd need to gain some distance so she could pull a few more tricks out of her hat, so to speak.

As if hearing his thoughts, Red X back flipped under a horizontal slash of Robin's staff, before leaping into the air and back some ten feet. Robin charged recklessly after her, obviously sensing her intent. The ancient master chuckled; the boy really should pay more attention to his surroundings in a fight. If he had, he would have noticed the palm-sized, red X that the clever girl had left on the ground as she had back flipped away.

An instant later, Robin crashed to the ground, as he stepped on the red mark and it bonded his heavy boot to the roof. The Anything Goes Master nearly laughed out loud at the sight of the fuming boy, whose chin was bleeding all over again now. The lovely Red X took the moment to regain her bearings and dropped into a loose combat stance.

With an angry surge, the masked boy broke free of the glue like substance and ran forward again. Happosai shook his head a bit at that. The boy was obviously blinded with anger for some reason, maybe he'd been hanging around that Hibiki boy too much?

"Robin! I'm not here to fight you! I'm here for him!" stated the woman, gesturing his way.

The youth didn't even slow in his charge. "I don't care! You're not getting away with that suit!" With that said, Robin pulled out a fan of three boomerangs from his belt and threw them at the girl, following close behind. Rather than dodge, she raised her hands again. X's fired out machine gun style from her palms, filling the air between the two combatants. Robin was forced to flip back and spin his staff to deflect the projectiles. His boomerangs weren't so lucky, all three of them were hit by the X's and knocked out of the air.

A second later, Robin's staff came to a stop, though not of his volition. The ancient master cackled again! Each of those projectiles had been the same adhesive material as the one that had caught the boy a moment earlier. Now his weapon was coated with large, sticky streams of the ruby material which had stretched out to catch the roof. As soon as the weapon stopped spinning, it was ripped from his gloved hand and slammed to the roof with a wet splat.

Happosai's attention was diverted from the amusing scene, as a shadow flitted across his vision for a moment. He looked up, just in time to see Red X descending down on him. He rolled his eyes, before cart wheeling to the side to avoid the clumsy attack. He prepared to send a stinging verbal barb her way -

When, as soon as she landed, she slammed her open palm to the rooftop. Suddenly the ground split open beneath him, in fact, the roof split into four separate sections as Red X's latest attack sundered the ground open in four directions from where she landed. It happened so fast, that he didn't even have time to jump away. He fell into the rupture, a cloud of dust, insulation and whatever other bits the roof was built from floating down with him. For just a fraction of a second, his mind tripped over how silent the attack was, considering the damage it had just cause.

Of course, it was only a ten foot drop to the floor beneath him, so he was hardly worried. Then, with a sigh, he raised his hand above his head and caught the girl's foot as she dropped on him in a jump kick. A second later and she became intimately acquainted with the apartment door. With a loud crash of splintering wood, the girl flew out the door and into the hallway.

He was forced to dodge next though, as four flashing discs flew down at him through the opening above. Two of the discs exploded violently, while the other two burst into small clouds of super cooled gasses. His eyes narrowed as Robin dropped through the opening, a pair of birdarangs in his hands. The angry look on the boy's face, not to mention his obvious upgrade to more dangerous weapons, spoke of how serious the boy had become. Apparently the hero had absolutely no regard for the poor owner's of this particular apartment.

The young hero landed before him and glared heatedly. "Stay out of this, Happosai. I have to recover that suit, you don't know how dangerous it is!" He then spun and ran out into the hallway, following the retreating sound of his prey's footsteps.

Happosai's eyes narrowed dangerously. Stay out of it? Who did that boy think he was? Who was the master here, and who the student? His aura flickered into existence around him and his eyes began to glow with crimson chi. Beside him, a frozen mirror cracked ominously, before shattering to pieces from the catastrophic changes in temperature.

Robin had received enough endurance training. It was about time . . .

For a real combat lesson.

Robin tore around the corner, just in time to see Red X pry open the elevator door with a pair of bladed weapons that extended from the back of her gloves. He shouted angrily, before running forward once more.

Apparently yelling out wasn't the best idea though, as Red X turned his way and fired another, larger X his way. He was about to dodge, when it stopped five feet in front of him. Instantly, the four corners shot out, sticking to the four corners of the hallway and expanding to more or less block the passage. Through the gaps left by the walls, he saw the criminal girl leap down the shaft and disappear from his sight.

With a frustrated swipe of his birdarang, he slashed the red obstacle in half and leapt after her. He reached the open door a moment later and without a second though, he jumped down after her. The floors whizzed by, as he flew suicidally after the villain.

"Wrong way, Robin!" was all he heard, as Red X suddenly shot up past him, being pulled up by her own grappling hook.

Why had he installed so many systems into that damn suit? He cursed himself for the hundredth time since he had made it, then he pulled out his grappling hook and fired it up as well. He was about four stories below the girl and falling behind. Her equipment was just better than his, that's all there was to it.

Several seconds later, she was at the ceiling and using a smaller version of her earlier move to open up a path to the roof once more. Almost as an afterthought, she used her wrist blade to slash his cord, before she jumped through the opening and up to the roof.

Instantly he was falling again, as the rope from his tool began to fall uselessly around him. Rather than panic, he grabbed the elevator cable and swung to the nearby wall. He then started triangle jumping, from wall to wall, until he reached the roof as well. A moment later, he was up and through the opening.

He spun around quickly, scanning the roof as soon as he landed. There! Two roofs over and moving fast. He took off, as fast as his exhausted legs would carry him. The scenery flew by, as he nearly soared across the rooftops in pursuit of the young woman. Whoever she was, she wasn't too bad, but if he hadn't already been chasing Happosai around all night, there would have been no way that she'd have been able to get away from him. As it was, he was starting to fall behind slowly, his arms and legs burning painfully from the exertion.

At least, at least the girl didn't seem to have figured out all of the suits systems yet, relying on only a few of the abilities it had. But that likely wouldn't last long, and she'd only get more dangerous as time went by.

No! He had to stop her, here and now!

He pulled out a fan of birdarangs with his right hand and a fan of electric discs with his left. He waited until both him and Red X were leaping over alleys, before he threw the barrage of projectiles her way. The young woman landed only a moment before the whirling weapons converged on her position. She turned, just in time to give a loud squeal of panic and frantically try to dodge as the discs began exploding around her and the birdarangs slammed into her sides.

Red X landed a moment later, smoking slightly and with a few shallow tears in the suit along the torso and upper arms. It was all the time he needed to close the gap. He landed on the roof, even as she was shaking her head after regaining her feet. He smiled wickedly, pulling out another birdarang.

"I think it's about time you give up, after all . . . you look a mess," he quipped sarcastically.

He slowly circled around her, flipping his weapon into a reverse grip. Red X shook her head one last time, before she dropped into a loose stance and started to mirror his circling movement.

"You play very rough for a hero," she replied a bit bitingly. "Do you attack everyone this harshly?"

"Only the ones that steal dangerous and experimental technology out of my home. I don't care what your plans are, this ends here." He took a step forward, brandishing his weapon threateningly. He didn't have enough energy left for an extended fight, but she likely didn't know that.

Red X took a step back to match his. Her stance did tighten slightly, though her head tilted to the side in amusement. "But, Robin, if I give you the suit right now, whatever would I wear home? I wouldn't want to be arrested for indecent exposure, now would I?"

She could parade down the street naked, with sparklers and a parade, for all he cared. He was getting that damned suit back and that was that. He prepared to make good on his thoughts, when -

"My, my, I can't imagine what kind of degenerate person would consider your exposure to be indecent," cackled an ancient voice. A moment later, their battle was interrupted as the owner of the voice dropped down between them.

Robin actually took a step back, feeling a bit nervous for the first time tonight. Happosai had a rather grim look on his face, not to mention an unearthly aura glowing around him. Suddenly recovering the Red X suit didn't seem like such an immediate concern.

"It's about time that I taught you a lesson in manners, boy. I don't care what kind of sordid affair you two may have had in your past, but when I'm fighting someone, I do not like to be ignored. Now, it's time for you two to learn exactly why I am the master," decreed the old man, a threatening amount of steel in his voice.

Suddenly, Robin found himself looking to Red X again, this time seeing her as a potential ally rather than a vile criminal. Desperate times and all that. The girl looked back at him, matching his gaze. He could almost see her considering his unspoken offer. Unfortunately, it only lasted for a second.

"Sorry, Robin, but you're on your own on this one. Try not to get too hurt!" The criminally attractive girl then leapt back into the air, before suddenly vanishing into a flash of black. Damn, it looked like she found the teleportation system as well, not good.

Which left him staring at an irate Grand Master of the martial arts. With the resigned calm of a man facing a firing squad, Robin pulled out his communicator and opened it. Hmmm, on second thought . . . forget resigned calm!

"Titans! Code Red, converge on my signal. Now!"

"Thanks for coming to the cavern to get me, Raven." Ryouga looked over to the girl standing beside him, as the two of them floated over the city on an ebony disc of darkness. The dark Titan didn't return his look, focusing her attention on the task at hand. One of her graceful hands hovered before her, encased with dark energy as she controlled the disc. Her other hand held her communicator, as she homed in on Robin's signal.

"In this case, it is the most I could do. Kasumi is still insisting that I am not recovered enough for combat," she replied after a few moments. He might have been imagining it, but he thought he saw a ghost of a smile grace her pale lips. "After all, you are supposedly filling in for me, it would reflect poorly on me if you didn't make it to the emergency."

A sudden updraft sent the disc wobbling for a second. He very nearly grabbed his companion's shoulder to steady himself, but stopped himself at the last second. His callused hand hovered over the smooth material of her cloak for several seconds, before he dropped it to his side, a sigh escaping his lips.

The two of them had been getting along better lately, but he didn't want to push his luck. Though, at least she hadn't flinched this time when he had nearly touched her. It was a habit she had acquired after their encounter in the church, and he felt a little of himself die every time she did it.

The rest of the trip passed in uncomfortable silence.

Several minutes later, they arrived at the source of the signal. Raven must have made good time, while Starfire was already there, Beast Boy was just lowering Cyborg to the roof with his massive, saurian claws. As soon as they were within twenty feet of the building, he leapt the remaining distance and rushed forward to see what had occurred. He felt a strange . . . disturbance in Raven's aura behind him when he leapt, but couldn't identify what it meant.

"Yo, Robin! You okay, man?" Cyborg ran forward as well, to where their small leader was lying on the roof, his spiky haired head resting comfortably on Starfire's lap. Ryouga had to admit, the masked vigilante looked pretty roughed up. The boy's outfit was trashed, his face was covered in bruises and some nasty scratches covered his chin. Even the boy's cape was shredded in half, a worrying fact, considering it was a flame resistant, titanium material.

"Dude, what happened? You look like you got run over . . . twice!" came Beast Boy's unnecessary comment. Both boy's quickly stopped at their leader's side and started hovering over him. Ignoring all the commotion, Raven glided past all of them and knelt beside the injured boy. Rather than ask any inane questions, she simply started to pass her azure glowing hands over Robin's injuries.

Robin looked at everyone present, a serious expression on his face. "Happosai happened, but that's not important right now."

Starfire apparently thought otherwise, as her eyes began to glow with a passionate emerald energy. "The Happosai person injured you so grievously? I will not stand for it! We must find him and punish him. Now!" she all but demanded. The Lost Boy was pretty sure the only thing stopping her from flying off, right then and there, was Robin's head on her lap. Not that he disagreed with her at all. He'd gone along with this because he knew that the old pervert was usually pretty harmless. But to see his new friend brutally beaten . . .

The Tamaranian's rant died out, as Robin's hand came to rest on hers.

"No. Happosai doesn't matter, he's nothing compared to our real problem." Robin's intense stare filled them all with confusion . . . or maybe just him. No, no, one look at Beast Boy and Cyborg and he was pretty sure they were confused as well.

"What could possibly be worse than an underwear stealing gnome, that just happens to be one of the most powerful martial artist's on the planet?" Raven asked, a bit of disbelief in her voice as well. Ryouga understood her annoyance with the old man only too well. It was unfortunate, but the list of people that Happosai refused to target for his raids consisted of only three people: Kasumi, Jinx and Starfire. The first time that the Gothic girl had returned to her room from the med lab, she had found it very lacking in certain . . . accoutrements.

Needless to say, that had been the day that Ryouga had started camping out in Terra's cavern.

"Red X."

The two syllables cut through his thoughts and silenced everyone present. The tone with which they were delivered was deadly serious, and the effect it had on all of the Titan's present, was instantaneous.

"It cannot be!"

"But, dude, I thought you were Red X!"

"How the heck did they get past my security?"

He could only stare in confusion, at the shocked and panicked looks that now covered his friends' faces. He suddenly felt on the outside looking in, as he tried to figure out why everyone was so put out by this latest threat. Beast Boy's comment didn't help his confusion either, what had the boy meant by that?

Raven's flat stare matched Robin's gaze. "Do you have any idea who it could have been?"

The young leader shook his head harshly. "Not a clue, but whoever it was, she was pretty good," he offered grudgingly.

That brought everyone up short.

"Um . . . she?"

"A girl stole your suit?"

And, the inevitable, "Snnk, heh, Robin, I didn't know you wore unisex outfits!" Beast Boy followed up his nonsensical comment with a hail of boisterous laughter. At least until a pair of glaring females silenced him painfully.

It was about then, that he decided to force his way back into the conversation. He cleared his throat loudly and took a few steps forward to join the group. He waited until all of their gazes slid his way before he began. "Um . . . I'm sure this is all a very dire emergency, but . . . "

" . . . but who the heck is Red X?"