Holy...did you catch that? Six reviews people! Six! That's like, one over five, and two more than last chapter number!
As promised, I will now reply to reviews, so here we go!
So to my beloved, and faithful reviewers:
Splint- Who stayed for each chapter and reviewed like a champ, Thank!
Isa Lumitus- Who worked carving cement for a long period of time and told of a fire hazard while working around an oil spill with flares (Kinda figures. Silly me)
And last but not least
HC- Who decided to log in and reviews last chapter. Thank you!
Now that that's done, hopefully do return next time, on with the show!
Disclaimer: No. Me no own Teen Titans.
Chapter Five: Round Two
To Lauren, Silver Fang, time seemed to stand still. She and her comrades, the Strike Force faced one of their most difficult chalanges as a team;
Red X
She heard all about him, both online and offline; spending numerous hours alone in her quarters, srearching the internet for anything related to the mysterious theif; pictures, security videos showing him in action, eluding the Teen Titans time and time again, slipping right under their noses. Her favorite was the security tape from the Western National Bank. She stared countless times at the five minute long footage, showing X go toe-to-toe with Robin as the two leaped, dodged and exchanged blows all over the bank, while the other titans try to assist their leader, but cannot because of how close he is to the theif. At one point, Robin flings a Birg-A-Rang which X dodges and allowes the projectile to hit the camera directly, causing a gradual reduction of the video quality untill there's nothing but static.
Boom Boom and Blank, the other two female members of the team, always teased her about her crush on the masked theif. Jokingly, they once said that if they'd have to confront him, she'd assist the theif instead of them. Her only response to that was a quiet giggle and a familiar saying
"All is fair in love and war"
She wasn't afraid to admit it, the theif was quite attractive in her opinion, and her room was like a a shrine dedicated to him; filled with newspaper clippings and items taken from crime scenes in which he was.
But now, things were different
Seeing him face to face showed her just how right were the rumours; X was all she expected, and then some, his skills, the overwhelming confidence, and the attitude. She never heard anyone answer back to Striker after they face him, but he did it so casually, it made her almost blush.
Seconds passed slowly. Outside, the rain grew stronger, thumping against the windows, lightning flashed, suddenly illuminating the laboratory with a bright white light, followed by the powerful thunder. X's muscles tightened, adrenaline pumping through his blood; compared to fighting the Teen Titans, this was going to be a walk in the woods. He tightened his grip, feeling the tips of the explosive shuriken in his palms poking him slightly.
Then, Soldier Boy opened his mouth
"Strike Force, ATTACK!"
Lightning flashed, Fuel launched two fireballs towrds X's location, but when the glowing white was gone, they saw there was nothing there but a small pillar of smoke, rising from the scorched ground
"Stick together, don't let him catch us by surprise!" Striker exclaimed, cursing under his breath. From the profile he read, X was a mastermind in using the element of surprise, throwing his enemies into disarray and then taking them out. He couldn't let that happen. The five theives collected themselves into a tight group, each looking in a different dirction, weapons at ready
"So sweet" X's distorted voice echoed. Striker's eyes widened, he couldn't find the source, did Red X teleport again?
Zzzrt
A cluster of black lines rematerialzed as Red X, appearing in mid air, slightly in front of Boom Boom. He threw his arm forward, launching a barrage of explosives towards the middle of the group. The Asian Bomber's eyes windened
"Scatter!" she cried out. The group responded, each jumping in another direction, avoiding the future blast. The explosives hit the ground and the five theives were knocked out of ballance by the huge shockwave.
X landed between all of them in a cat like stance. Using the smoke screen as cover, he went for the closest target he could spot; the Asian girl. He sent his leg across the floor and took her off her feet with a surprised cry, causing her to hit her head on the ground. The will to follow his attack patteren and go for a jab was pushing him, but he knew their teamwork was well to worked out to allow him enough time space to do that. Instead, he allowed the spinning momentum to keep on carrying him as he completed a hundred and eighty degrees spin on the floor, he faced Striker, who held his green blade up high, wanting to cut X's head in two like a mellon. The surprised look on the theif's face made X's eyes narrow as he used his powerful legs to rocket into the air and nail Striker a smashing uppercut right in the chin. The soldier flew back, howling in pain and landed on the floor, motionless.
"Nighty night, Soldier B-" A whisteling sound made X turn his head back to see a giant fireball, screaming towards him. With no time to even teleport, the fireball caught X's fire proof cape and exploded, sending the theif flying with a grunt towards a wall. Recovering, X teleported just in time to avoid the hit and then reappeared behind the human inferno, leaping at him with a fist.
As soon as he was about to make contact, Fuel disappeared into an explosion of red fire. He reappeared next to X, who was still caught by the momentum of his punch, and used both his hands to try and apply a painful Back Breaker, but X saw him reappear and anticipated that move. He rolled forward quickly, avoiding the double punch and tried another sweeping kick, but Fuel had already teleported into his cloud of fire. X didn't even bother looking and teleported as well, vanishing into a black blur. The both reappeared in front of each other with Fuel blasting away with fireballs and X dodging his attacks with another teleportation move.
"You're fast" X said, stopping for a second. Fuel reappeared as well, a satisfaction filled grin all over his face
"Too bad I'm faster" the theif continued and teleported again, appearing behind the human flamethrower with a shuriken inches from his neck. Fuel chuckled in his raspy voice
"Speed isn't everything in life, Barbecue Boy" he said and chuckled again. At that moment, a shining yellow glow started building up fast below X's feet. Terrified, he looked down with his eyes wide open; the patch of ground he was standing at was gaining a burning yellowish color
"Landmines? Come on!" his brain screamed. Just as he jumped in an attempt to avoid the mine's blast, the latter exploded into a huge fireball, sending X flying backwards
Fuel didn't waste a second and dashed after the cat burgler's body, jumping into the air and nailing him with a flying kick that send a white supernova of pain exploding into X's head. The extra boost from Fuel's kick sent the theif crashing against a steel beam. Dizzy, he didn't even have time to react before the flaming man grabbed him with a chockehold and pressed him against the beam
"Let's see what's under that mask of yours. Wonder if I could melt it off" he said venomously and brought a flaming palm closer and closer to X's face. Sweat was poring inside the suit, from both heat and panic
"You know, I put it there for a reason" the theif replied, grabbing Fuel's arm with both his hands and delivering a massive electric joult that appeared as a red crackling aura around the burning man's body, stabbing his nerves with knives of pain. He let go and backed away with a scream of pain, giving Red X the moving space he needed to gain momentum and smash the man's nose with a powerful fist
"Don't you ever-" an animalistic roar caused him to turn around in shock; two orange orbs bounced in front of his eyes and detonated. He stumbled back, shilding his burning eyes from the painfully white glow with his right arm, he was was attacked by something; an animal of some sort that jumped him and tackled him to the ground.
As he went down, he pushed his legs into the belly of the beast. Which were rock hard, litteraly. He used the thrust he gained from falling backwards and propelled the animal up and over him. He slowly started regaining his sight when he saw his opponent; a Panther, made out of some silvery matter, which skidded across the floor and growled at him angrily
"Easy there kitty, nice kitty..." he stammered while backing away slowly, seemingly frightened. The large cat licked its lips with anticipation and charged full speed towards the black suited theif
"Silver watch out!" the Asian girl cried, but in no avail
"Bye kitty" he said and planted his hand on the floor, sending a large X shaped line crossing throught the floor, destroying the floor under the panther and allowing it to drop to the floor below, screaming in a young girl's voice
"SILVER!!!" Boom Boom cried out and glared at the theif. Her teeth clenched as her hands filled up with tiny destructive ornage orbs, surrounded by an odd looking flame
"You...I'll make you pay!" she hissed through her clenched teeth "You'll pay for hurting my friends, I'll, I'll-" right in front of her eyes, he vanished, reappearing inches away from her, a bit bent down; his skull mask right in front of her face. His eyes narrowed. She gasped in shock
"You'll what?" he asked in his ever so mocking voice and slapped her hands from underneath, causing her to throw all the explosive orbs into the sky. He teleported again, leaving her to jump aside to avoid being hit by her own weapons, which landed on the floor and exploded loudly
"Better get that into your head, kid" X said as he walked towards the nearly fainted Boom Boom
"I'm not some pitty pick pocket you and your friends can boss around. Keep that in mind" he turned to leave her be, when something jumped into his head
"By the way, where's your- Uch!" his eyes went wide and then closed as he fell to the ground, unconsciouns
"Mess wiz zee best, burn like zee rest" Blank's voice said. The petite French girl materialized from thin air, holding a small black lead pipe. She dropped the pipe and assisted her friend up
"You okay?" she asked. Boom Boom replied with a nod
"I'll go and get the accelerator" she said fadely "You take care of the guys, I think he got Silver pretty bad, she fell one floor down" Blank gasped. The though of her friend badly injured sickned her, she hurried down to where X destoyed parts of the floor and looked down
"I'm going to get it" The Asian Bomber said, brushing some dark hair away from her face and limping away
"Be careful" her friend replied and without hesitation, jumped down
(S)
The two evlevator doors leading to the Living Room floor of Titans Tower opened with a hiss as two soaked ladies marched in; Raven and Starfire's outfits were drenched and changed their colors into darker than they originally are.. Starfire's hair was washed down and stuck to her back, she was trying to peel it off while walking, without much of a success
"Hey girls" Beast Boy said casually without even looking at them "How was the- Hey, you cut me off dude!" he screamed at Cyborg, who's virtual car just zoomed past Beast Boy's
"Hand to hand combat was just fine- ACHOO!" Raven replied, sneezing loudly as she did "It's just too bad that we only practiced the basic stuff" she squeezed her cloak, causing a fairly large amount of water to drop to the floor
"I told you I'd be happy to help if you asked" Robin interjected while moving his head with sync to the bass beat as some unknown Rapper was rhyming in the background
"We were aware of that, Robin, but we also desired to see how we will manage without your guidance" Starfire added, smiling
"And how did you-" Robin was starting to say something when he was cut off by the sound coming from the stereo, which wasn't a part of his Rap song
"Reports are coming from southern Jump City about a recent heist that..."
"The south end...that's the tech district!" Robin exclaimed while rubbing his chin "Cyborg, turn on channel six!" he commanded. The Game Station's T.V outline was drawn out by Cyborg's metallic hand while Beast Boy, working in perfect synchronisation with his friend, flipped the channel to channel Six, the News Mania channel
"...From the break-in that occured fifteen minutes ago at the Wolfman Tech company's headquarters..." Stan 'The Man' Jones, channel six's fearless field reporter was standing in the rain, one hand holding his microphone while the other was shaking to hold a black umbrella over his head. Behind him was the Wolfman Tech building, seemengly intact. Lightning flashed
"Turn up the volume" Raven demanded. The shape shifter complied
"...Yes indeed" Stan kept going "A news crew which was on its way to film a Sci-Fi convention that took place in the Jump City Planetarium caught this rare footage by mistake. Roll it again, Gary"
The screen turned static for a second and then displayed the Wolfman Tech factory as seen from a driving vehicle. You could hear the news crew chatting in the background when all of a sudden, the audio track was filled by the horrible sound of an explosion as a part of the labs structre went up in flames
"Stop the car, stop the car!" one of the people aboard the van cried out. The camera stopped moving as the camera man was now holding it and not allowing in to move.
Out of the flames and to the open road, zooming past the news crew's van, went a large, Hummer like vehicle, followed by three red speeding bikes. The camera man turned his camera to the other side of the van, trying to keep track of the group
"As you can see, Jump city has been 'jumped' by a new band of tech theives. Is it random? Or are those notorious villans here to stay? And where are the Titans East whom were promised to guard us? Has Jump City become a free land for criminals? All this and more, right after the break"
(S)
"Uch...Oh. Gonna feel that one in the morning" the masked theif groaned as he slowly got up, rubbing the back of his head. His entire body ached from the beating he took, but he didn't mind that. As soon as he looked out the windows, he saw the flashing blue and red lights of the JCPD cruisers and realised that he was in trouble. He fled the labs' structre and headed towards the underground parking lot. It was time to see what his new set of wheels could do.
(S)
"...The reports of eye witnesses describe the Hummer to be manned by two men, while the three motorcycles were driven by, and I quote 'Totally hot biker babes'. Strong words" the reported said gloomly, when something caught his attention; some sound, coming in from the direction of the building. A lone black motorcycle rocketed from the darkness and then skidded to a halt whie turning sideways to avoid hitting Stan and his camera man. The long black cape was obscuring the camera's view, but as soon as the cape fell down, it was clear to the Stan the he was about to have one of the golden moments of his carreer; a one on one interview with Red X
"Uh, X, Red X, any words for the public? How does it feel to be alive again?" he asked. X lowered his head towards the microphone, but at the corner of his eye, caught three of the JCPD's finest, line up behind a cruiser and take aim at him
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" Cyborg asked, baffeled. The five Titans has their faces glued to the screen, even Raven was interested
"Well Stan, I'm a man of few words so I'll make this short" X turned his head towards the camera, still on his bike
"Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg. The Batmobile lost a wheel-" A few quick bursts of red laser beams that sent mud flying into the air, made X gun his bike's throttle, turn around while splashing mud all around and rocket off, his cape flapping behind him in the rain and the three officers still shooting in his direction
"AND THE JOKER GOT AWAY!" Beast Boy and Cyborg shouted, much to Robin's dismay
"Pipe down!" he shouted. Beast Boy and Cyborg shooshed. He sighed
"This is serious, don't you get it?" he stated, annoyed "We meant for X to steal the accelerator so he could see what wrong is he doing and double cross his emplyer! But now... Now the plan's messed up, we're gonna have to make plan B. Somebody contact the Titans East"
A tad short, I know But fear not, honorable readers of my fanfic, as I will make up for it in the next chapter! Promise!