A/N: Sorry for not updating in a long time. My mind has been playing with different plot lines. Well, here is my full action chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that is Teen Titans, that all belongs to DC comics.

Chapter 15

Journal 4: Part 2

Continuation…

He struck without any warning at all. I gave an alarmed yell as I tried to dive out of the way of the incoming X's. My shoulder hit the wooden floor, and I managed to dodge two of the three flying razors. The third one sliced through some of my shoulder, forcing a small muffle of pain from me.

My captor didn't give me time to recoup. He jumped high into the air, clearly ten times more experienced at this fighting thing than I was. I quickly put myself together and rolled out of the way, ignoring the strong sting in my shoulder. He landed right where I had been lying and pulled out three more X's. I got to my knees and knocked down the bench as a shield against the flying X's.

I wasn't going to get anywhere if I played defense this whole time. I decided to fight back with whatever I had. My eyes settled on the wall of weights. I sprung to my feet and pulled five, small weights off their pegs. I spun around and threw one like I would a discus for track and field.

That first one didn't do much damage because I had forgotten my hands were tied up. I ducked as more X's were thrown back at me. The dangerous things whizzed over my head and lodged into the wall behind me, barely making a sound. I quickly adapted to my small disability and threw another weight at the thief.

The guy's eyes widened for a second as he saw the airborne weight coming toward him. He avoided it by swiftly cart wheeling to the side. The weight smashed into the floor and made a dent in the polished wood. He then had to duck because I already had another one soaring at him. By the time I had thrown my last weight, my captor was fed up with me destroying his house. Four dents were in his floor and the fifth weight had destroyed some of the far wall.

I smiled dryly at my captor as we both stood across from each other, catching our breath for a second. He then held up a gloved hand with a red X in the palm. I already had somewhat of a prediction of what he was doing and hardly had enough time to sum up enough emotion to make my black shield.

Red goo shaped as X's shot out of my captor's palm and roughly splattered repeating against my force field. The harsh impact made the goo fling everywhere. The pasty stuff was all over the walls, ceiling, and floor now. The only thing not covered in it was me.

My captor was staring at me with his masked eyes wide in shock. I let go of my emotions, and my protection vanished into thin air as mysteriously as it had appeared. But I didn't fully leave my emotions behind. In the back of my head I kept mulling over a few of them, so when the right time came, I could tap into them faster. It was something of a technique I was thinking of when stuck in that cage in the Hive Five's hideout for so long.

"You're just chuck full of surprises, kid," my captor muttered at me. His eyes narrowed again as his mind fell back into battle mode. I instinctively went into a fighting stance in a slight crouch, ready to dodge if he threw another X.

I'm kind of surprised at how focused I was, now that I think back to it. For days my mind has been spinning in confusion, but when I'm in these tight, physical situations my brain works so perfectly. Everything slips away to the back of my head and the moves I or my opponent makes is clear and sometimes predictable.

I was caught off guard when my captor ran at me. I didn't expect any close combat this soon. He came at me with razor blades shaped as X's on his gloves. I bared my teeth as I waited for the right time to dodge his attack. Just as his fist with the X razor on it was hurled at me, I quickly ducked while throwing up my bound hands in its way. The sharp blade sliced through my ropes, making me a completely free kid.

Having my hands liberated didn't mean I was out of danger, though. Just as soon as the first fist was thrown, another was already coming in from the side. I rolled backwards to get out of the way of both simultaneous attacks. As soon as I was out of my tight roll, I had my head up to see what else this thief had in store for me.

For the next few minutes it was a whirlwind of complicated moves coming from my captor. I had difficulty just quickly coming up with ways to protect or dodge his attacks. He was swift and rapid in his motions. His style kind of reminded me of Robin's for when he fought the Hive Five that one time, just that Robin's is smoother than and not as strict as this guy's.

It was when I got backed into a corner with no means of escape or defense that my body finally got past its worn out stage and into another one. My head hit against the hard wall before my shoulders slammed into it. I could barely stand as I gasped for breath, praying for a way out. My eyes glanced up and widened as I saw my captor raise his hand with the razor blade. I squeezed my eyes shut as I saw it coming down towards me.

Slowly, I opened my eyes when I realized my captor hadn't sliced my head off. The razor had bore into the wall not even an inch away from my forehead. I looked at the red blade beside me for a second before averting my eyes back up to my captor with confusion flashing in them. He could have so easily killed me there if he wanted to. Why hadn't I done anything to stop him?

My problem was that my life could have ended there, and I didn't even try to save it. I didn't even try to raise a hand up to retaliate against my death. It was sad to know that the only thing I did in the face of death was close my eyes and prepare for it. Had my life really gotten so bad that I didn't care about it? It really did scare me that I didn't value my existence anymore. It is human nature to have self preservation. It is bore into your head since day one. Had mine worn off?

It was that second that I knew my way of thinking would have to change. The past few days I have been too focused on what had been going on around me at that very moment way too much. I just didn't think that my life could have ended at any time. I went with the flow and improvised many times. I wasn't prepared for anything. I hadn't thought of my future even once. I guess I just thought of everything as some dream that would one day go away.

It was time to kick this new brain of mine into high gear. I needed to accept that I wasn't a dumb middle school student anymore. Life had given me a curve that I would have to adapt to, and if I didn't go with it I could end up dead. I needed to look forward.

I can't go back to Pennsylvania and go to middle school with you guys anymore. I'll get lucky if I even go to school. I have no relatives or real parents that I know of. That old life of mine is dead, and I can never get it back again. The best thing to do is think about restarting a new one. I'm a new person; a new life will have to come with it.

"You thought I was going to kill you, didn't you, kid?" my captor asked. He leaned forward till both our noses almost touched. I was forced to look straight into his masked eyes. My whole body shook partly from my brush of death and also from exhaustion. I hated feeling so weak and pathetic all the time, like I did now. That also needed to change.

"I'm not going to kill you, but I'm not afraid of getting your butt back into that chair and tying you back up by any means possible," my captor said with a harsh tone in his voice. "We can do this the easy way, which would be you willingly sitting down. We can also keep at this fight that you are right now losing, which would be the hard way. Your choice, shrimp."

I stared back at him with my eyes narrowed and my jaw clenched. "I'm not some object to be sold," I told him with a scowl. "I'm not going to willing be an eBay item. You're gonna have to force me back into that chair!"

My captor pulled the blade out of the wall with a disgusted sigh. "It's just business, shrimp," he muttered before sheathing the blade and throwing a punch. I ducked while looking past him to the wall with the weights. I pored out a great deal of emotion as I whispered my powerful mantra.

My left hand burst into black flames, and I could feel it connected to the giant weight on the opposite end of the room. I found it easier than moving my backpack this time. With a small battle yell, I slammed my hand into the wall my back was pressed up against. The heavy weight turned black, consumed with my mysterious power and flew off its peg and at my captor who ready to strike in front of me.

I dropped to the floor right before the weight rammed into my captor. He gave a cry of pain as he smashed into the wall and got the air knocked out of him. My feet were quickly under me, and I was sprinting to the front door as the guy was down for the count.

The door was just covered with locks. I sighed in frustration and forcefully pulled up some more emotion. One by one, I used my dark powers to vigorously pull and yank off the locks. Using my powers at this stage still leaves me worn out. Sense my body was already spent; I had difficulty focusing enough emotion on each lock.

The almost soundless wiz of incoming X's alerted me that my captor was back up. I crouched down and sprung off the wood floor. I pushed my feet against the door while in mid air to help me complete my flip. The X's struck the floor and door where I had been. I landed next to the one on the floor and took off into the next room to avoid another attack from my captor.

I found myself in the kitchen. Counters surrounded a small island. There were some dirty dishes almost rotting in the rusty sink. The refrigerator hummed off to my side. Old magnets hung up a few small pictures of family or friends. But the counters were left barren. Little to no cooking utensils adorned the room. I could tell this guy was someone who preferred take-out.

With a grim expression on my face, I rounded the island and slid to a stop on my knees as more X's flew over head. They embedded themselves deeply into some wooden cabinets. I yanked a few drawers open while still bending down. I hoped to find some kind of eating utensil to throw at my captor, but I found no such luck. The drawers were just as empty as the rest of the kitchen.

"I thought you were out of steam!" my captor yelled at me. It was clear to me that I had made him madder than a hornet by throwing that weight on him. He rushed into the room with more of those X's in his hands. My eyes zipped around the room, searching for any weapon to use against this guy.

"I'm full of surprises, remember?" I shouted back at him from behind the island. I spotted a large bowl holding some rotting fruit in the middle of the island and smiled slyly to myself. I stood up and lunged for the bowl and grabbed it. Two X's were quickly thrown at me. One missed while the other skimmed my hand. I was lucky it didn't lodge itself there.

With a wince, I ducked behind the island. The back of my hand was sliced open. I bit my lower lip as I saw the blood slowly leaking out of my new wound. The gash provoked an extra boost of emotion. With a loud yell, I stood up from behind the island with both my hands bursting into black fire that enveloped my arms up to my elbows.

The various fruits on the ground instantly turned dark as they were devoted by my power. They flung themselves at my captor at such tremendous speeds that he barely had time to get over the shock and dodge. My surprised captor gave sharp yells as she jumped and flipped out of the way of the speeding fruit. The produce splattered roughly onto the counters, wall, and cabinets behind him. Orange and apple juices hurled into the air and was combined with soft bunches of exploded bananas.

"Over here!" I called over to my captor with an amusing smile crossing my features. The dude realized no more fruit was being hurdled at him and stopped to look confusingly over to me. I pulled my arm up to bring up the porcelain bowl the fruit used to be in. With a flick of my hand, I had that thing flying toward him.

The bowl smashed into my captor's face with a loud smash. The guy dropped to his hands and knees with a sharp cry of pain. As the guy was down for a second, I searched the cabinets for any other weapon I could use in this fight. This time I was fortunate enough to find a large frying pan. It was pretty heavy, but it would have to be my makeshift shield and club.

With a small gasp of surprise, I spun around with my pan raised high as I heard the battle cry from my captor. He jumped off the island and was already in position to kick me right in the face when I brought the pan up for protection. The ponderous metal of the pan vibrated as his foot slammed right into it. The thing was almost knocked out of my hands!

"Boy, you're a pain in the ass!" my captor hissed at me while advancing with a fist raised high. I gritted my teeth and brandished my hefty weapon quickly to block the series of blows. I was surprised with myself at how fast I was able to fend him off.

After a few more punches and kicks from my captor that I managed to evade, the guy stood back with his eyes narrowed in pure annoyance. We had a five second truce where we heaved heavy breaths for air. I flexed my hand with the wound with a wince. Boy was it stinging like mad!

"I guess you're wishing you never had a frying pan in your kitchen right about now, huh?" I asked my captor with a wide, over confident grin. His only response was taking out some more of those red X's of his. "Or maybe you're wishing you never put me up on eBay," I tried with my smile weakening. I took a few steps back and held up the pan to protect myself.

"Shut up and pass out or something, shrimp!" my captor yelled in frustration. He threw three of the X's in his slight rage, all of which I was able to block.

"There has to be some other option here," I shouted back, now mad that nothing was stopping this guy from attacking me. "I know you don't want to auction me off to someone. You know it's inhumane."

"Trying to convert me, kid?" my captor asked with a sharp laugh. Our battle yells echoed throughout the kitchen as he came at me with some more kicks and punches. This time I took the liberty to play a little offense. I swung my pan at my captor like I would a sword or something. I got him a few times, but he also managed to get a few good punches in too. We ignored our sores and bruises and kept at it.

Our battle slowly started to speed up as it raged on. We were all over the kitchen by now, attempting to come up with quick ways to get the opponent either down or out cold. As if I was some Jedi knight, I swiftly swung the pan in multiple directions. My captor was jumping and twisting around me to either dodge or to get me off guard.

It was like back in Slade's hideout. The spark and life of the battle just seemed to rush through me, highlighting every sense in my body. The feeling excited everything in me. Even though at times the beating hurt and the scars stung, it just enhanced the fight. I couldn't help but grin slightly. I wished this feeling would never go away.

All of the sudden, the intense battle came to a crashing halt. The loud ding sound of the doorbell lightly echoed throughout the apartment like a sweet wind chime calming the waters of a rough sea storm. We both paused in our attacks, twisting our heads around to the door in bewilderment. I was somehow on the island, flourishing my pan high above my head to beat down on my captor. At the same time, he was on the ground with both his arms raised in a block.

"Not good," my captor whispered to himself. The bell rung softly again, but this time it sounded more eerie than peaceful. I hesitantly dropped my raised arms and gave a weary glance down to my captor. If it were the Titans or Slade they would have charged in without a care in the world. The person or persons on the other side of the locked door were different.

Without warning, the door was forcibly plowed open with a loud bang that made both of us cringe. A dozen or so men clad in all black poured into the apartment with guns drawn. My captor swore loudly before throwing a few X's toward the men taking aim at both of us. The X's all exploded on impact, sending up large clouds of gray smoke.

"Move!" my captor yelled sharply at me while yanking me down to the floor. I gave an alarmed yell at the sudden pull on my shirt which made me fall off balanced and drop my pan. I was dragged behind the island right as the men opened fire on us. I squeezed my eyes shut and put my hands over my ears. The deafening sound of bullet fire ripped from all around me. Seconds later, the cabinets looked like Swiss cheese.

"Who are these people?" I shouted to my captor who had now saved my life. I heard the dreaded clicks as the guys behind us quickly reloaded.

"No clue, kid," the thief yelled back. Both our ears were ringing profusely. "I thought you would know. All I can tell you is that they are organized like some government team. We aren't getting out of this mess through the front door."

"Duh," I pointed out sarcastically with a small frown on my face. The situation had quickly changed. The odds had been swept away, and alleys had been altered drastically. I was still trying to get my head around that my captor was now on my side and not out to get me. "Don't you have a window?"

"Duh," the thief said while pointing at the small window across from us where the sink was. "Don't get all smart-ass on me, shrimp. I'm still calling the shots, here. Follow me and we might be able to shake these dudes off."

I gasped when another round of bullets ripped into the already destroyed cabinets. Splinters and smoke sprayed all over me and the thief. Finally, the blaring sound stopped and the house was dead quiet. I glanced up to the thief beside be before slowly pulling the pan I had dropped toward me with my foot. I used its smooth reflective side to see what was going on behind us.

A woman in a long, black trench coat walked briskly into the room. Her brown hair was put up in a tight ponytail that seemed to make her face stretch. Her sharp, cold eyes focused on the pan I was using to see her. Her slightly warped reflection in the pan didn't distort the foreboding feeling I got when seeing her. In a flash, she had her pistol raised. A single bullet shot was heard as she shot the pan dead center.

"Whoa!" I yelled in start. I threw the pan away from me with a grim expression on my face. I pressed my back against the island, trying to calm my now racing heart. The thief and I shared worried glances and waited for the ones behind us to make the next move with anxious minds.

"Red X and Gene Summers," the lady declared sharply. Her tone was military like, commanding for full attention from both of us. "You two are under arrest."

To Be Continued…

A/N: I'm thinking about posting my new mystery Teen Titan fic next weekend. I'm gonna try and start to sum this fic up quickly so I can't focus more attention on my new one. But please review! Thanks!