Blanket Disclaimer: Poison Tonic LX does not own the Teen Titans or any characters therein. Don't sue her, please, because if you do I won't have a home anymore…-Ralph, the muse
The rush.
That's why he stole, he knew. It wasn't glory, or power, or even money (although those things were, of course, definite pluses).
No, it was the rush he felt when he knew he'd pulled off another perfect heist and gotten away…
"Titans, GO!"
…Or gotten very close to getting away, in any case.
He cursed under his breath, pulled out one of the infamous red X's that had given him his name, and threw it at a large green bird (actually, it looked to be a pterodactyl, but at least it was a sizeable flying creature of some sort), an immense, impenetrable (he hoped) net springing from it and wrapping around the animal, taking it to the ground.
"BOOYAH!"
He turned towards the cry just in time to duck out of the way of a bright blue beam, which nearly took him out in spite of his dodge, nicking his arm. He cursed again and threw another device at the Metal Man, smirking behind his mask when he heard the satisfying electrical crackle meaning the half-robot was out of commission…for the time being.
"You shall not harm my friends or anyone else any longer!" A barrage of green energy bolts followed the high-pitched screech, and again he had barely enough time to dodge them, though this time he escaped unscathed.
He couldn't help but roll his eyes once that particular danger had been averted—the alien chick always seemed to yell something of that sort, and he always seemed to pop up again to prove her wrong…not that he was complaining, mind you.
He threw an X at her, hoping to incapacitate her as easily as the other two, but the device was intercepted by a black shadow, which then easily destroyed it.
A sigh. Nothing was going his way this night, it seemed.
He leapt out of the way of a shadow-encompassed dumpster, shooting a glare at his attacker, closely followed by another X, though it was dodged, much to his chagrin.
"Looks like you're getting slow in your old age, X." Another of those annoying encumbrances stated as a disc was thrown at him, exploding after a single skip on the concrete.
He jumped out of harm's way and frowned at the speaker, but kept an annoyingly smug tone in his voice. "I made it this far without running into you, didn't I, kid? Used to be a time you'd have met me on my way out of the building, at least. I'm nearly a block away now." He sneered.
The Kid scowled, then went flying back with a red X wrapped around his middle, locking his arms to his side.
"Now who's getting old?" He mocked.
"You are!" Another volley of those bothersome starbolts, but this time no shadows saved their mistress from his X, and she, too, fell.
"Just you and I, now, Sorceress." He smirked at her.
"So it would seem." She drawled, her hands glowing black.
He tossed an X in her general direction, anticipating where she would dodge to (correctly, it may be added) and throwing himself into that spot.
Unfortunately for him, she turned out to be much better at hand-to-hand than he'd expected.
Certainly she had improved since last they'd fought, though it wasn't nearly the same style as any of her teammates' (the Kid and the Metal Man in particular) like he would have expected.
"Well, this isn't an altogether unpleasant surprise." He decided out loud when he found himself pinned to the ground by the Sorceress.
A frown tugged at her lips (which were much nicer than he'd expected—very full and at the time looking very, very tempting), but she didn't move, instead pushing him harder against the ground, gravel digging into his back. "Not unpleasant, perhaps, but increasingly uncomfortable, I bet." She said, voice as deadpan as always, though her eyes sparked with an indignant fire.
"My dear Raven, who could be uncomfortable with such a lovely young woman straddling their middle?" He asked, his grin widening when he saw her blush lightly.
Then her eyes narrowed, and in one quick movement she'd turned him over, now making his face become much better acquainted with Mother Earth. "Do shut up."
He chuckled. "Not used to being told the truth? You are lovely…gorgeous, in fact. And so very powerful…it's too bad you're on the wrong side."
"You're the one on the wrong side." There was a clicking noise indicating the handcuffs being attached his wrists.
"Mayhap I am." He did a fancy turn he'd learned after many years of experience and practice, and the cuffs fell to the floor. He pulled his mask up far enough to show his mouth, then leaned forward and softly kissed those oh-so-enticing lips, pulling the mask back down and smiling at her. "For now, though, I can't accompany you to the other side. Until next time, darling."
He pressed a button on his belt, and with a sickening jerk was suddenly out of the street, away from the Sorceress and her friends, and in his rather desolate home base.