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
He fingered the jewel in his hand—the jewel whose fault it was he'd been pinned to the ground by the fiery young Sorceress who had caught (and, so far, held) his attention.
This would be his last job for a while.
He already had enough saved up to take care of himself and even an entire family for quite some time, and the rush he'd gotten on this job would tide him over for a time.
But…he still wanted to see her.
And how could he do that without being Red X?
Certainly he couldn't approach her as Caleb Dawson—such an idea was ludicrous!
He wondered what she, the daughter of a demon, saw in playing super hero anyways.
It must have been boring—doing the same thing day in and day out with no reprieve.
Then again, his…job...was much the same, if on the opposite side of the spectrum.
He wondered if she got a rush.
He wondered what other reason she could have for doing what she did, if it wasn't the rush.
What was it like to have morals so strong you would put your life on the line for someone, and not even get paid with anything other than a place to stay and a few books and trinkets?
Granted, it was a very nice place to stay, and there were quite a few books and trinkets, but still he wondered.
He wondered if it was really morals that drove her.
He had heard what she said to Trigon the day he had finally been defeated (yes, he had been there. He, too, had escaped the strange spell that had turned the rest of the world into stone, though he would never divulge to anyone how he managed this feat). Perhaps she had been trying to prove to herself, and to her 'father' and the rest of the universe, that she was her own person, and wouldn't be forced to be dark in the sense that she was an evil being (because certainly she was dark in a manner of speaking).
Or, he wondered, perhaps it really was just a rush.
He wondered if the rush she got when saving lives and defeating villains was as fulfilling as the rush he got when he pulled off another successful heist (and as it was said before, there were only successful heists, excluding the time he'd fallen out of Chang's lab—which had still been partially successful, in all actuality…just annoying).
Maybe, he wondered…maybe it was a mixture of all of these things, and even more things he didn't really feel like pondering.
He wondered what it would be like…the rush.
He wondered if he should try it…being on the other side of the law…the 'good', 'right' side…
He wondered if he could pull it off.
He smiled.
That settled it, then.
It would be a challenge, one he would set upon himself:
Pull off the super hero gig as successfully as his heists, and get close enough to the Sorceress to find out what so intrigued him about her.
…And…try to get her to truly smile…at him...
(THE RUSH)